Restructuring and Performance among Japanese Firms after Prudential Policy Reform

After over a decade of sluggish economic growth accompanied by massive fiscal stimulus in the 1990s, it remains an open question whether and how Japanese firms have restructured their operations, and whether these efforts have borne any fruit. Using a randomly selected sample of 300 firms from the Tokyo Stock Exchange, we collect all restructuring announcement in the FY 2000-2001 (April 2000-March 2002) period. Our results are striking in that while we find that firms engaging in restructuring of various sorts display improved earnings in the period following the restructuring announcement, shareholders do not appear to benefit at the time of the restructuring announcements.