• Influence of the banks: Heavy involvement of the major banks in companies facilitates continuity of ownership and provides support for long-term strategic planning. The emphasis on yearly profits and their effect on share prices, and thus the market value of the company, is less than in Anglo-Saxon countries and on a par with Japan. The implication of this is a longer-term planning emphasis as opposed to an emphasis on short-term results (Blum, 1994;

Hickson and Pugh, 1995).