KYOTO -- The two-day Kansai Business Seminar opened here Wednesday with organizers calling on business leaders to reform Japan's business practices and to revitalize the Kansai economy in the face of global competition. Before about 380 business leaders, government officials and university professors, Kiyoji Morii, head of the Kansai Productivity Center, one of the organizers of the seminar, said that Japanese businesses need to reform traditional business practices such as life-time employment and the inflexible "keiretsu" cross-shareholding system in order to meet the needs of a changing business environment. "Amid the current business environment (of economic globalization), it is necessary for Japanese firms to create a new employment system that encourages employees to fully exercise their capability," Morii said in an opening speech at the seminar, which is also sponsored by the Kansai Association of Corporate Executives. As the Kansai economy remains sluggish, with one of the worst jobless rates in the country at about 7 percent, Morii also called on participants to find ways to revitalize the region by reinvigorating small and midsize firms. The participants are to discuss such specific issues as Japan's role in the international society, the employment system and Kansai's revitalization at workshops that continue today. In the following keynote speech, Iwao Nakatani, a professor of economics at Tama University, said that Japan would be able to revive its economy within 10 years if Japanese businesses can deal properly with globalization and the information technology revolution as successfully practiced by U.S. businesses.
In order to achieve this, Japanese firms need to raise their corporate values to be more attractive for investors by reforming traditional business practices and decision-making system of the management, Nakatani said. He also spoke of the Internet's influence. "It is expected that Internet users in Japan may increase dramatically in four to five years with various digital equipment entering the market," Nakatani said. "With the spread of Internet users and appropriate business reforms, Japan may be able to revive its economy again." He added that policy measures such as deregulation and decentralization of power to local governments are also needed.