Page 22 - Japanese Growth and Education: 演講人：Motohisa Kaneko教授

122 ᐿ࿲ၾආӉj઺ԃٙɢඎ

These changes affected the economies of industrialized countries, but

the impact had been particularly felt strongly in Japan. The regime of human
capital formation in Japanese corporations, and the J-mode, that had worked
so effectively in improving economic productivity so far suddenly seem to be

irrelevant in the face of emerging tide of economic competition.
In the emerging competition competitiveness arise from finding new
combination of technology and demands. Business enterprises have to

change their organization constantly inducing high levels of labor mobility.
Consequently, the skills and knowledge required for work becomes increasingly
diverse. They also become obsolete very shortly. In order to equip the workers
with such skills and knowledge, the firms can no longer rely on the existing

knowledge and skill formation in the workplace. Outside sources have to be
utilized for in-house training. At the same time, some workers are required to

have specific skills to get a new employment opportunity. In short, specific
knowledge has to be acquired constantly beyond the realm of existing
organization.
Looking from this perspective, J-mode has significant limits. Since it is

based on the existing organization, it is ineffective in creating and transmitting
the kind of knowledge not required by the organization. It is difficult to

introduce innovation arising from outside of the organizational. When it is
expected that technology or demands are about to undertake a substantial shift,
this makes a critical disadvantage.
Moreover, set in the environment of global economic competition, many

enterprises are forced to struggle for survival and to achieve short-term benefit is
given priority. They have to respond to the changes in the market and technology

as quickly as possible. Under these circumstances, it is becoming increasingly
difficult for the enterprises to sustain the lifetime employment system. While