Corporate Governance in East Asia:
Is Convergence on the Anglo-American Model the Future?

Welcome to the webpage for Kyushu University’s Annual Law Conference. The topic for this year’s conference is: Corporate Governance in East Asia: Is Convergence on the Anglo-American Model the Future?

Corporate Governance in East Asia is an issue of global consequence. The last half century has seen Japan, Korea and China experience “economic miracles” that have defined the growth of the global economy. The impact of the region over the next half century is likely to be even more dramatic – as the size of the region’s economy may indeed outstrip those of the US and the EU. One of the objectives of this conference is to gain a deeper understanding into how the building blocks of the economy in East Asia, its corporations, function.

The other objective is to evaluate the correctness of "convergence theory”, which looms large in the wider comparative corporate governance literature. The recent trend in East Asia of transplanting Anglo-American corporate governance mechanisms, as a means of reform, provides a rich context for engaging in the convergence debate.

With leading experts from each of East Asia’s major economies and the United States, we are confident that this conference will achieve its objectives. We hope that the conference leaves all those who attend it with a better sense of the direction that corporate governance in East Asia is heading, so that they may anticipate today the issues of tomorrow.

We welcome you to explore this webpage to learn more about the conference.