We investigate the changing structure of Japanese and U.S. companies and ask whether there are signs of national convergence in corporate organization. We present three types of evidence to address this question: longitudinal data, cross-sectional survey data, and structural equation modeling...

U.S. institutional investors are a key actor helping to diffuse shareholder-primacy precepts overseas, including to Japan. This study focuses on CalPERS, the public pension fund that is one of Japan's largest foreign equity investors. Using original sources, the article shows how CalPERS...

Based on data from an original survey of senior HR executives in Japan and the United States, this paper provides empirical data for evaluating institutional convergence. In both countries, the headquarters HR function has shrunk and employment decisions have become more decentralized. However,...

This paper considers the association between financial development and labor-market outcomes such as risk and inequality. The relationship is not straightforward, however. It is mediated by politics at the national and corporate levels. Politics spurs financial development, which sets in motion...

Until the mid-nineteenth century, English and American courts held that indefinite employment contracts could not be terminated at will. The stance was a legacy of strictures found in the Statute of Artificers. But by the turn of the century, English and American law no longer agreed. In...

Pundits of globalization predict the eventual demise of the stakeholder corporate governance model found in Europe and Japan and its replacement by the Anglo-American shareholder model. Were this to occur, it would sharply change the relationship of employees to their employer in many parts of...

Based on an original survey of senior human resources (HR) executives, this paper provides empirical data for a comparison of HR management structures and practices in Japan and the United States. In both countries, the headquarters HR function has shrunk and employment decisions have become...