A Comparative Study on the effectiveness and Limitations of Corporate Governance in Japan, United States, UK, Germany and France

通过证明公司治理可能是公司长期绩效的必要条件而不是充分条件，实现了研究的第一个目的。丰田（Toyota）和佳能（Canon）这两家典型的日本样本公司没有外部董事，但在几乎所有关键绩效指标上都优于各自的美国竞争对手通用汽车（GM）和施乐（Xerox）。外国投资者在上述日本公司中持有相当大的股份，现有证据还表明，与采用传统董事会结构的日本公司相比，采用由三个委员会组成的可选董事会结构的日本公司表现出较低的业绩记录。这表明，公司治理本身并不能带来更高的结果。在美国，那些通过保证员工福利来提高客户满意度的公司也表现出了更高的业绩。这样的公司有强生公司、美国西南航空公司、英国约翰·刘易斯公司、德国贝塔斯曼公司，这只是其中的几个例子。研究的第二个目的是证明其他因素：价值观、文化、道德和战略在可持续绩效中发挥同样重要的作用。在日本、美国、英国、德国和法国，包括上述公司在内的表现出色的公司也证明了这一点。总而言之，强调股东至上的公司似乎并不能带来更高的长期业绩。在最坏的情况下，过分强调股东财富可能最终导致严重的经济崩溃，如次贷或安然事件。

The first aim of the study has been achieved by proving that corporate governance may be a necessary condition for long-term corporate performance but not a sufficient condition. Two typical Japanese sample firms, Toyota and Canon, have no outside directors but are superior in nearly all key performance indicators to their respective rival US firms of GM and Xerox. Foreign investors maintain considerable shareholdings in the said Japanese companies Available evidence also indicates that the Japanese firms that have adopted the optional Board Structure with the three Committees show lower performance records compared with those with the traditional Board structure. This shows that corporate governance alone does not lead to higher results. In the United States, firms that put a premium on customer satisfaction by assuring employee welfare have also shown higher performance. Such firms are Johnson & Johnson, Southwest Airlines in the US, John Lewis in the UK, Bertelsmann in Germany to cite only a few cases.The second objective of the research was to prove the hypothesis that other factors : value, culture, ethics and strategy play equally important roles in the sustainable performance. This has also been born out by firms with outstanding performance in Japan, US, UK, Germany and France including the said companies including those indicated above.In conclusion firms that emphasize shareholder primacy do not seem to deliver higher long-term records. In the worst case, excessive emphasis on shareholder wealth may end up in serious economic debacles such as sub prime or Enron incidents.