Nomura Asset Management has relocated its entire global headquarters into a single elevator in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo, which now travels nonstop between the basement and the top floor at a speed calibrated to the Nikkei's daily opening bell. The company says the move allows analysts to remain in constant physical contact with the market's momentum.
Under the new arrangement, all investment decisions must be made while the elevator is in motion. Staff who wish to recommend a buy order must do so between the fourth and seventh floors; sell recommendations are accepted only on the way down. The firm has installed a small gong on the ceiling, which is struck whenever the elevator changes direction, a signal that traders describe as «the most honest sound in finance.»
Rival asset managers have responded by converting their own offices into escalators, staircases and, in one case, a revolving door that never stops turning. Nomura has also begun hiring elevator operators with degrees in economics, and has posted a notice in the lobby stating that anyone who presses the emergency stop button will be asked to explain themselves to the Bank of Japan.
By next month, the company plans to extend the elevator shaft through the roof and into a second building, so that the global business can expand without anyone ever having to step onto solid ground again.