Determinants and effects of employing professional corporate executives: A case of cotton-spinning companies in pre-war Japan

One of the phenomena in modern business history which has been attracting the attention of economists, managerial scientists and lawyers, is the emergence and diffusion of corporate executives who are separated from ownership. The seminal work of Berle and Means (1932) stressed that ownership of large companies was substantially dispersed, and that as a result, a major part of corporate decision making was handled by professional executives separated from ownership.