On 17/10/2011 14:31:12, Paul wrote:
Japanese optical company Olympus Corp fired their British CEO after 6 months in position sending the stock down 18%. While we cannot be sure of what the exact motivation for this was it appears to be protection of the 'Culture' See the link:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/2011/10/14/uk-olympus-idUKTRE79D0PN20111014

On 17/10/2011 14:35:38, Rowan wrote:
Interesting twist developing in the Olympus saga. Ex-president Woodford was investigating suspicious payments to company advisers when he was fired. He claims he was concerned for his safety and left Japan immediately. He further claims that the "board is contaminated and needs to be cleaned up".

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-10-16/olympus-auditor-called-for-probe-into-acquisition-payments-report-shows.html

On 10/11/2011 10:35:23, Paul wrote:
This saga could really highlight a serious issue with Japanese corporate governance. Olympus appear to have been hiding losses on financial investments by exaggerating the amount paid for acquisitions. This practice may date back to the early 90s following the beginning of the sell off in Japanese asset prices. According to Bloomberg Toshiro Shimoyama, President between 1984 and 1993 is quoted in the Nikkei industrial daily newspaper in 1986 as saying, 'When the main business is struggling, we need to earn through zaitech, though doing too much is no good.' Zaitech is the process of 'earning money through financial speculation' Given how long ago this statement was made one would have imagined the effects would have washed out. It now appears obvious they have not! How many other Japanese companies have engaged in this process? Can we have any faith in their accounts? What were the auditors doing? Is it unfair to blame Japanese 'corporate culture' for this? Indeed should we expand this question out? How can we have faith in any company financials?

On 06/01/2012 16:17:20, David wrote:
For those hoping the Olympus fraud would spark a change in corporate Japan, look away! Former whistle-blowing Olympus president Woodford has halted his bid to spearhead a board room change at the company.

"None of the major Japanese institutional shareholders have offered one word of support to me,” Woodford said in a statement released today.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose....