Nidec Corp. Leads 2015 All-Japan Executive Team
For a third year running, Kyoto-based precision-motors manufacturer Nidec Corp. is the most honored company on the All-Japan Executive Team, Institutional Investor's annual ranking of the nation's corporate leaders as seen through the eyes of investment professionals.
SoftBank Corp., a telecommunications services provider headquartered in Tokyo, lands in second place, followed by Osaka-based consumer electronics giant Panasonic Corp. in third.
Rounding out the top five are another Tokyo-based telecoms company, KDDI Corp., and Komatsu, which manufactures construction equipment. It is also headquartered in Tokyo.
II asked portfolio managers and sell-side analysts to name the best CEOs, CFOs and IR professionals at the Japanese companies they cover, and to evaluate these businesses on their performance in each of eight IR attributes, including accessibility of senior managements, quality and depth of answers to inquiries, transparency of financial reporting and disclosure, and so on. Responses to these questions were aggregated to produce an overall rank for each company.
Buy- and sell-side responses were tabulated separately to produce two distinct rankings for each of the four categories (Best CEO, Best CFO, Best IR Professional and Best IR Company). Nidec is the only company this year to claim a first-place victory in all eight segments in its sector (Electronics/Components) -- and builds on that success by also capturing second place in IR Professionals among buy-side participants.
Survey results reflect the opinions of nearly 350 buy-side analysts and money managers at close to 200 firms that collectively manage an estimated $640 billion in Japanese equities and approximately 210 researchers at 30 sell-side institutions.
