I joined the consulting industry straight out of college and have been supporting the evolution of client companies’ management since then.
What I experienced as a consultant was that when a great job was done under tight collaboration between the company management and consultants, the company changed drastically, enterprise value increased, and stock prices jumped up.
I imagined if there was a way to not just to gain high consulting fees but to launch a fund that invests in excellent companies managed by excellent management who have willingness to carry out transformation, and in which both management and the fund jointly pitch in ideas for advancing management and return the benefits to investors.
With this aspiration, I joined the investment management industry where I have been carrying out investments that support advancing management under the concept of a constructivist.
I think evolution of management always happen through an iterative enlightenment with the market where both sides inspire each other.
Japanese companies have been catering to Japanese customers which are considered to be the most demanding in the world. This has helped Japanese companies build up world-class competitiveness.
The labor market also plays a unique role in Japanese style management where I see a healthy relationship between labor and management that we can pride in.
On the other hand, where does the relationship between company management and the capital markets stand?
As a responsible long-term investor, there is a strong desire to promote healthy dialogue and mutual learning between company management and the capital markets.
We want to be an investor that sits closest to company management as a constructivist.
I believe that integration and sublimination of management logic and the logic of capital will act as a significant frontier for Japanese company management, which all of us could agree.
We conduct our day-to-day investment and engagement activities with that in mind.
The evolution of corporate management has always happened at the forefront of the market.
Japanese companies have been increasing corporate value by refining competitiveness through catering Japanese customers’ requests that are said to be the most demanding in the world along with establishing a healthy collaborative relationship between employees and management that we can boast about to the world.
However, where does the relationship between corporate management and the capital markets stand? Even within the context of the shift from indirect finance to direct finance, shareholders have not contributed to supporting corporate management as banks have in the past. This is showcased through the unfortunate fact that 70 % of the listed companies’ capital productivity is less than the capital cost even when looking at the long-term average looking back past 10 years. Ironically, because of this inefficiency the frontiers of Japanese companies’ management lies in the current capital markets. We, as constructivists, will be spearheading the way in moving the distribution of the capital productivity upward to improve nationwide capital productivity.
