Constant evolution in the face of challenges is what unites the top-scoring chief executives in Institutional Investor’s 2021 All-Japan Executive Team. Shigenobu Nagamori, chairman and chief executive of Nidec Corp., quotes Nietzsche: “The snake which cannot cast its skin has to die.”
Nagamori is once again the top-scoring chief executive in the electronic components sector for his work at Nidec, the company he founded in a prefabricated hut along the Katsura River in Kyoto in 1973. For more than 10 years, he has been searching for a successor for his business. But few hopefuls can match his resolve: After his father passed away when he was a child, Nagamori’s mother, a farmer, told him that as long as he put in twice as much effort as others, he would succeed in his endeavors.
He may be getting closer to handing over the reins after Nidec promoted Jun Seki to the role of president and chief operating officer in April 2020. Seki was the third outside executive Nagamori had recruited as a potential candidate for president. Nagamori told II that his promotion marks an end to a more non-hierarchical management structure and a return to a top-down approach as the company aims at consolidated net sales of 10 trillion yen by the financial year ending March 31, 2031.
Yasuhiko Saitoh knows well the trials of taking on a business that has been steered by the same leadership for decades. Saitoh became president of Shin-Etsu Chemical in 2016, with the tricky task of helping the company transition from the leadership of chairman Chihiro Kanagawa, who is in his nineties. The laconic executive said the most important lesson he has learned in business is “to keep learning – and that there is no end of learning.” He achieves this partly through collaboration with external partners, a strategy shared by Christophe Weber, president and chief executive at Takeda.
“If the global Covid-19 pandemic taught us anything, it’s that speed in R&D can be achieved through effective collaboration and partnerships,” Weber said.
To determine the members of Institutional Investor’s 2021 All-Japan Executive Team, we surveyed buy-side analysts, money managers, and sell-side researchers at securities firms and financial institutions that cover the region, including those who cast and received votes in this year’s All-Japan Research Team surveys. Results reflect the opinions from 715 investors, portfolio managers and analysts from 298 firms, nominating a total of 510 companies.
We asked the buy- and sell-side voters to name the best chief executive officers, chief financial officers and investor relations professionals at the companies in their coverage universes. CEOs were rated on their credibility, leadership, and quality of communication. CFOs were rated on their ability in capital allocation, financial stewardship, and quality of communication. For the Investor Relations programs, companies were rated on a variety of attributes covering their service and communication, disclosure, and ESG.
Separate rankings — buy side and sell side, as well as combined — are available for CEO, CFO, IR Professional, and IR Program awards.
To earn the designation of Most Honored Company, a company must achieve two or more top-three appearances in the combined buy-side and sell-side results, with a minimum score of four points; rank is determined by weighted score wherein each first-place position is worth three points; second place, two; and third place, one. When a tie exists in the weighted score, companies are ordered according to the number of ranked positions they receive in their industry sectors.
To be eligible for inclusion on the 2021 All-Japan Executive Team, a company must be headquartered or have operational or executive headquarters in the region. We keep confidential the identities of the survey respondents to ensure their continuing cooperation. Voters must meet eligibility requirements, and winners must achieve a minimum vote count.