Business Case Studies,Corporate Governance & Business Ethics Case Study, Flour Corp's Business Ethics Practices: Creating Six Sigma Standards in Staying Corruption-Free

Code : GOV0043

Year : 2006

Industry :Internet and e-commerce

Region : Japan

Teaching Note: Not Available

Structured Assignment : Not Available

Introduction: Horiewas born onOctober 29th 1972 in Fukuoka, a small farming town in southern Japan.Growing up in amiddle class family, he topped his tests in school.While he was a student at the University of Tokyo, Horie realized the potential of the Internet as he worked on a part-time job with an Internet services company. In 1996, at the age of 23, he set up his own website-design company, Livin’ On The Edge, with a borrowed sum of $50,000 from an acquaintance. Eventually, he dropped out of college to focus on his business.

In the early 1990s, Japanese economy was striving to recover fromthe stock and real estate bubble burst through a structured reformprocess. To assist the reformprocess, the government had initiated steps to liberalize the highly regulated business environment.One such initiativewas tomake it easier for small businesses to raisemoney through stockmarkets so that they could grow quickly. Stock swaps were allowed to enable companies to pay for their acquisitions through their own stocks, instead of cash. Similarly, the government removed the restrictions on stock splits, encouraging individual investors to invest in stocks. Horie and Livin’On The Edge’s chief financial officer, RyojiMiyauchi, used these changes in regulations to expand the company. In 2000, Livin’OnThe Edgewas listed on the Tokyo StockExchange’sMothersmarket for start-up firms and using the funds fromthe listing started acquiring companies. In November 2002, Livin’ on the Edge acquired Livedoor Corp. [Livedoor], a free Internet services business, which had gone bankrupt.