“However, creating value for shareholders had not historically been a top priority. This obviously is in contrast to other developed markets such as the US where for decades the guiding mantra been to maximise shareholder value through share price appreciation,” says Withaar in an interview with The Edge Singapore.
For three decades, the business executives of post-bubble Japan who ran one of the world’s largest economies did so in their own particular way. Instead of aiming for rapid expansion, they preferred to manage their cash carefully and play it slow and steady in a deflationary environment. Unlike most companies in the US, emerging Asia and, to a lesser extent, Europe, Japanese companies typically have more cash than debt.
“Traditional Japanese management in the post-war reconstruction period had the dual purpose of serving the community and assisting the reconstruction, a really very noble approach,” says Jon Withaar, head of Asia special situations at Pictet Asset Management.
