Despite some differences among the German and Japanese models of corporate governance, there are certain significant features to justify their being bracketed together. Their distinctive features are as follows:
- Banks and financial institutions have substantial stakes in the equity capital of companies. Besides, cross-holding among groups of firms is common in Japan.
- Institutional investors in both the countries view themselves as long term investors. They play a fairly active role in corporate managements.
- The disclosure norms are not very stringent, checks on insider trading are not very comprehensive and effective, and the emphasis on liquidity is not high. All these factors lead to the efficiency ...