TOKYO -- Corporate Japan is slowly but surely moving to eliminate the unelected senior adviser positions typically given to ex-executives and former board members who critics say should have no direct role in management decisions, a survey of corporate chiefs shows.
Some 2.8% of the 142 company presidents, CEOs and chairmen polled in The Nikkei's quarterly survey of corporate chiefs said their companies would eliminate these positions, whose occupants need not be approved by shareholders. Another 5.6% said they would reduce their number. A hefty 68.4%, however, planned no changes. But even the small minority choosing to trim or eliminate advisory roles is significant, given how deeply entrenched such schemes are in corporate Japan.
