I’ll be attending what looks to be a very interesting evening with the Global Business Network including Clay Shirky (whom I know via Jerry Michalski), JC Herz (author of “Joystick Nation” etc.), and Jaron Lanier. Report to come on Thurs.
I’ll be attending what looks to be a very interesting evening with the Global Business Network including Clay Shirky (whom I know via Jerry Michalski), JC Herz (author of “Joystick Nation” etc.), and Jaron Lanier. Report to come on Thurs.
I do apologize for those of you who don’t care too much about the situation in Japan with their banks and the bad loans. It seems as if there’s been a focus on this in my weblog recently. Part of this is because it’s the main news story from Japan that I’m interested in. (The news surrounding North Korea is equally compelling but I don’t have as strong of an opinion on it.)
The New York Times has really been one of the best sources for news from Japan recently, especially since so many news sources have closed their Japan bureaus. James Brooke & Ken Belson of the NY Times cover Japan excellently and I’m grateful for their work. Today is another example of great coverage:
NY Times – Japan’s Sick Banking System Resists Therapy
Japan is not the only country where bank lending is driven by policy imperatives and cronyism. In China, sour loans, many made on government orders to keep huge former state-owned businesses open and people employed, are said to be worth about half the country’s gross domestic product Û twice as much as in Japan. In Taiwan, Malaysia and Thailand, the relationship between banks and their lenders is similarly muddy.
But for the sheer value of bad loans, no country tops Japan. And as deflation persists and the economy deteriorates, bad loans are still accumulating faster than the banks can write them off.
NY Times – Japan’s ‘Zombie’ Businesses Live On
“Daiei is a corporate revitalization problem, and that is really a human capital problem,” Robert H. Dugger, managing director of the Tudor Investment Corporation, said on a visit here. “In Japan, there are 500 to 600 professional turnaround managers. In the United States, there are 10,000 to 12,000.”
NY Times – Op-Ed – Would Reform Ruin Japan?
Japan Digest: Latest Takenaka Session With Bankers Bruised a Lot of Egos
Economy Minister Takenaka’s Monday session with Japanese bankers (Digest, 10/28) left bruised egos all around, Nihon Keizai said. It was governed by “an atmosphere of hostility,” in which the bankers tried to bring Takenaka down from his ivory tower with some straight talk about how things really work–and he responded by threatening to take his case to Prime Minister Koizumi. Takenaka called in the leaders of Japan’s seven top banks to deliver the message that “A final resolution to the bad- loan cleanup issue is politically important.” To that, one of the executives retorted: “Nonperforming loans are always emerging… There is no possible way that there will be a final resolution to the problem, so we ask that you do not confuse politics with the economy.” Takenaka, “visibly angered,” responded: “So you’re ready to go against the policies of the Koizumi government? If so, then I want you to say it. I’ll tell the prime minister for you.”
Kevin Kelly, ex-founder/editor of Wired Magazine, has a new book coming out from Taschen called “Asia Grace” that looks to be awesome. The production notes are extensive and very educational.
This book took thirty years to make; I began shooting around 1972. But it was not until recently that the technology of scanning, and pre-press, and layout was sufficiently off-the-shelf and accessible to non-professionals that I felt I could make the book that I had always seen in my imagination.
Tech’s big challenge: Decentralization
Because decentralization inherently breaks down boundaries, it cuts across familiar industry categories. It’s everywhere you look…but that makes it easy to miss. Some of the smartest software executives I know aren’t aware of the revolutionary potential of open spectrum, while most telecom experts don’t understand Web services.
Parallels abound. As it struggles with digital content distribution, for example, the entertainment industry could learn from the experience of computer companies such as IBM that had to reorient their business models away from centralized mainframes and proprietary systems. But it’s hard for people to see the forest when they’re used to scrutinizing the trees.