What is the root cause of corporate failure?
Hisashi Kawahara, a former executive of failed Yamaichi Securities Co., spent four years pondering this question. He interviewed some 100 former Yamaichi employees and pored over hundreds of companies' annual reports and technical books on such subjects as management, corporate governance and even history.
Kawahara's quest led to a 383-page dissertation and a doctorate degree in commercial science from Meiji University in March. He now has the answer: corporate ethics -- or rather, the lack of it.