MANAGEMENT JAPAN ( in engelish )
Vol.32, No. 2 , Summer 1999

CONTENTS

2 Can American Finance Become the Global Standard?
The most important problem with the American financial
model is that financial institutions are run for profit maxim-
ization as they must achieve a return on equity (ROE) of
20%) or more like other firms in other industries, or they will
not be able to obtain finance in the markets. Until the early
1980s, US financial institutions focused on corporate financ-
ing, and ROE was barely 5%.
Masaharu Kuhara

8 What Is the Issue?
—What's Evident Following the Financial Big Bang
I think it is better to view the Big Bang not as a simple
reform of the financial system but rather, in its essence, as a
national plan to switch the financial infrastructure that has
been the base of the Japanese system to the international
standard and completely revamp the economic and social
system of Japan from the roots up.
Fuminori Takeuchi

18 The Asian Financial Crisis and Future Prospects
While it is an unmistakable fact that the Asian currency
crisis was caused directly by the fickle inflow and outflow of
short-term capital, it is also true that a number of underlying
risk factors existed in the Asian economy. The first such
factor was the current account deficit.
Jun Ilirata