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Messages from Keidanren Executives and Contributed articles to Keidanren Journals April, 2024 To Become a Nation of Technology and Craftsmanship

Jun SAWADA Vice Chair, KEIDANREN
Chairman and Representative Member of the Board, NTT Corporation

Recently, a series of large-scale incidents have shaken the trust in Japanese companies.

Certification irregularities by a major automobile manufacturer, improper quality control practices and accounting issue by major electronics manufacturers, and personal information leakage by the NTT Group. Behind these incidents, there lies a status quo bias, peer pressure, extreme pressure to meet quotas, and a lack of psychological safety in workplace culture.

The promotion of data-driven management will contribute to improving these corporate cultures, but those unquantified craftsman's intuition and know-how that have been cultivated in Japanese companies will disappear. We are now entering an era in which the history of sophisticated management using IT, that is, "system integration" and "customization" alone will no longer be sufficient. On the other hand, we cannot find solutions to the declining population and labor shortage in Japan unless we design and implement Digital Transformation(DX)using digital technologies such as robots and generative AI.

The progress of DX through generative AI will lead to a surplus of white-collar human resources in future society. Regarding essential workers, whose jobs are difficult to implement DX, as the current situation does not resolve the shortage of human resources, the mismatch between jobs and human resources will increase. To solve this issue, the following actions are necessary: 1) Wage increase for essential workers, 2) Craftsmanship system (Master craftsman education qualification), 3) Reskilling of white-collar labor, 4) Actively converting unemployed people and fixed term employees into permanent employees. Especially, points 1) and 2) are important actions. We need to place fair evaluation on Japan's high technical ability and craftsmanship and appropriately reflect it in wages as our national strategy, and to establish a base model which we can expand from Japan to other countries.

Japan needs to put serious efforts into realizing a paraconsistent society that preserves the good qualities of craftsmanship while drastically reducing labor through DX, using generative AI. Becoming a nation of technology and craftsmanship is a way toward excellent future for Japan.

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