Japanese Corporations under Pressure: Changing Employment Practices in Three Industries

Japanese companies came under intense pressure to change employment practices from the 1990s onwards. These pressures and the companies’ responses will be outlined by looking at three industries. The electronics industry represents Japan’s manufacturing sector. Japan’s electronics companies grew rapidly in the post-war period and managed to assume a leadership role despite intense worldwide competition before their position was threatened in the 1990s. The electronics industry uses employees in a wide variety of occupations, including the actual manufacturing process, research and development, and administration. However, it is the care that companies took in the employment of blue collar workers that has been particularly linked to Japan’s strength in production efficiency and product quality. Banking represents white collar employment. Employees of financial institutions were seen as elite, with privileges in terms of remuneration levels and security of advancement. However, developments such as financial deregulation and the after effects of the bubble economy have driven Japan’s financial sector into an ongoing period of reorganization. Finally, retailing represents consumer-oriented services with high customer expectations in terms of service quality and increasingly in terms of constant availability over space and time.