The House of Nomura: The Inside Story of the Legendary Japanese Financial Dynasty

Author: Albert J. Alletzhauser
List Price: $22.95
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ISBN: 1559700890
Publisher: Arcade Books (May, 1990)
Sales Rank: 1,049,167
Average Customer Rating: 3 out of 5

Customer Reviews

Rating: 3 out of 5
Nearly a hagiography.
The story of the biggest Japanese investment bank.
The development of this broker powerhouse was based on their door-to-door salesman: 'The pressure to generate stock-market orders is with a salesman every waking hour.' (p.191)
No orders, no commissions ... fired.
Good picture of the Japanese employee: a well paid slave, nearly without freedom or domestic life (see also the hilarious book by Amélie Nothomb 'Fear and Trembling').
Only 10% of the company's profits go to the employees, the other 90% to the directors, who spend fortunes on mistresses, official or not.
This book is not critical enough, although now and then it touches the other heart of the matter: churning of client accounts by overstressed salesmen, bribing of politicians and state officials, murky deals with underworld figures.
Interesting investigation but not the whole truth.

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