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Strategies & Market Trends : Waiting for the big Kahuna -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Moominoid who wrote (33313)	11/9/1998 7:21:00 AM
From: flickerful	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 94695

Japanese companies slower to replace stockft 9 nov 98 By Kevin Brown, Industry Editor Big Japanese companies are replacing capital stock more slowly than rivals in Europe and North America, suggesting that Japan's economic problems are eroding its competitive position, according to a study released today. The report, published by the British government's department of trade and industry, was compiled to provide a basis for benchmarking by UK companies, which the survey suggests are investing a third less than international competitors. However, a recalculation of the figures for the Financial Times shows capital investment by the 69 Pacific Rim companies involved - 59 of which were Japanese - was only 7.8 per cent of gross fixed tangible assets last year. The 130 American companies in the survey invested 10.1 per cent and the 101 European companies 8.4 per cent. The American companies included 118 in the US, nine in Canada and three in Brazil. Most of the European companies were from France, Germany and the UK. British officials said the figures should be interpreted cautiously because of accounting differences, investment fluctuations, variations in property valuation and the exclusion of state-owned companies. But they said the findings were consistent with a slowdown in Japanese investment. The report, the 1998 Capex Scoreboard, was compiled from published figures by Company Reporting, a British company commissioned by the government. The study suggests Japan has an enormous historical lead over Europe and North America in capital stock, measured by gross tangible fixed investment - capital equipment such as machines and vehicles - per employee. It puts investment by the Japanese companies surveyed at £317,000 per worker, compared with £152,000 in Europe and £154,000 in the Americas. Japanese companies also scored well on capital expenditure per employee, averaging £25,000 per employee, compared with £13,000 in Europe and £16,000 in the Americas. However, officials cautioned that some of the gap might be due to different employment practices. The figures provide some support for claims by Gordon Brown, the British finance minister, that low investment may underlie the UK economy's long-term problems of low productivity. ft.com