世論 What Japan Thinks

Recently japan.internet.com reported on a survey conducted by goo Research into shareholder meetings.

Demographics

Between the 19th and 20th of April 2007, goo Research got 1,083 successfully completed replies to their private internet-based questionnaire. 52.5% were male, 24.8% in their twenties, 22.5% in their thirties, 21.8% in their forties, 20.7% in their fifties, and 10.2% in their sixties.

Share trading is something I have yet to do in Japan, despite having a company savings scheme, so I cannot really comment much on the results of this survey. Of course one cannot mention shareholder meetings in Japan without mentioning the 総会屋, soukaiya, yakusa-connected extortionists who seek payment in return for not disrupting the company’s AGM. Many companies hold their AGM on the same day to hopefully reduce the chance of being targeted by the mob.

I was surprised by almost one in five shareholders having attended an AGM or the like. Perhaps the more detailed survey results indicates why many people choose to attend. Do companies give away gifts or have food laid on for attendees?

Survey results

First, from the initial sample of 1,083 people, 434, or 40.1%, had personal share holdings. These 434 were then asked the following question.

Q1: How much is your personal share portfolio currently worth? (Sample size=434)

	Votes	Percentage
Up to 10,000 yen	7	1.6%
From 10,000 to 100,000 yen	25	5.8%
From 100,000 to 500,000 yen	70	16.1%
From 500,000 to 1,000,000 yen	53	12.2%
More than 1,000,000 yen	214	49.3%
Currently no shares held	65	15.0%

Of these 434, 80 people, or 18.4% had participated in shareholder meetings. These 80 were then asked the following question.

Q2: Are you satisfied with the contents of shareholder meetings? (Sample size=80)

Satisfied	12.5%
Sometimes have dissatisfying experiences	38.8%
Always dissatisfied	33.8%
Cannot say either way	15.0%

When asked why they were dissatisfied, the top reason was that they never got a proper answer to questions, followed by not having the opportunity to express opposition to matters.

Q3: Do you think that at shareholder meetings personal shareholders are seen as important? (Sample size=434)

Very important	0.5%
Important	13.1%
A little unimportant	53.7%
Not important at all	21.9%
Can’t say either way	10.8%