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Interview with Kakutaro Kitashiro, Chairman, Keizai Doyukai, Japan, on the keys to maintaining Japan's current economic growth.
What will play the biggest role in improving the pace and profile of innovation in major Japanese companies?
The Japanese notion of "Continuous Improvement" should continue to be bought to bear on quality and cost. It is a strong characteristic of top manufacturing companies. We should innovate in product and process, innovate with our business models and innovate in the government areas of healthcare and education.
Existing companies need to innovate and find new business models, but this can be difficult as they tend to be conservative. We need to encourage the new start-up companies and ventures, as they can be more creative. Encouraging new start-ups will promote innovation.
What are the key characteristics of Japan’s most successful businesses?
The manufacturing sector is very strong overall. Reasons for this include the large level of employee loyalty to their employers and the high amounts of skilled labour in the workforce, which contributes to the quality of the products being manufactured.
A second characteristic of Japan’s successful manufacturing businesses is good relations between Research and Development and the people working on the plant floor. Developers make a point of going to the assembly floor to maintain these relationships and to gain useful input for their research.
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"There is still a large deficit and a declining population, but I am confident that people are aware of this and are taking steps to rectify the problems."
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Is Japan’s current economic recovery sustainable?
I think so. The economic recovery depends largely on private sector strength and we are seeing that at the moment. The banking sector is healthy due to strong growth in China and the automotive industry is also strong. So this suggests a continued, sustainable recovery.
The biggest task lies with the government, there is still a large deficit and a declining population, but I am confident that people are aware of this and are taking steps to rectify the problems.
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