Japanese Capital Structure and an Analysis of Mitsubishi Corporation
Capital structure in Japan has been noted to be more highly leveraged than comparative North American firms which brings to mind the question: how is it that Japanese firms have been able to take on such high levels of debt? The answer lies in the environment that Japanese firms have been operating in. More specifically, the levels of debt are likely to have been induced by the lack of alternative sources of finance because of the effect of government regulations, and the different ownership structure in Japanese firms (with institutional lenders being major equity holders). So, the higher leverage has been a consequence of the conditions that Japanese business face-with a more pronounced effect (due to relationships) in companies which are in corporate groups known as keiretsu. These conditions were characteristic of the past. As the benefits of debt are well known in finance theory (tax shields, signaling etc.), the lack of independence and efficiency in decision making borne by Japanese managers seem to be the costs. The result for some firms has been a reduction in debt levels to those more resembling U.S. companies. The questions now have become: What is the optimal debt level for a
business is overseas, which is quite unusual for Japanese banks. Financial services of BTM consist of consumer, commercial, and investment banking; foreign exchange; investment management; trust services; leasing and securities trading. In recent years it has been crippled by corporate bankruptcies, bad loans and poor investments, thus it was unable to bail out troubled competitors. Currently they are teaming up with other Mitsubishi group members to enter brokerage, investment banking, and insurance areas, which were recently deregulated by the Japanese governments.
Some common words found in the essay are:
Financial Distress, Trade Corporations, Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan Japanese, Stock Exchange, North American, Information Asymmetric, Horizontal Vertical, Deregulation Japanese, Ministry Finance, japanese firms, capital structure, financial distress, capital markets, bank debt, structure japanese, keiretsu firms, mitsubishi corporation, asymmetric information, japanese companies, costs financial distress, capital structure japanese, structure japanese american, structure corporate ownership, foreign bond markets,
Approximate Word count = 5060
Approximate Pages = 20 (250 words per page double spaced)
|