Asia is a land never conquered by institutional shareholders. Only 28% of the region's stockmarket consists of firms with diverse owners (see chart 4). Most of these are in Japan, where businesses are controlled by managers and employees who by long-established protocol politely listen to and then ignore what fund managers say. State-run firms make up 40% of Asia's total and family-run firms, often conglomerates or "business houses", account for 27%. The proportions vary from country to country (see chart 5). In China state-run firms dominate, whereas in South Korea and India business houses are prominent. All this has been true for a long time and it is tempting to think it will never change. That would be a mistake.
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