The call for organizational reform that is leading many Japanese companies and even government agencies to struggle to streamline operations is finally reaching the nation's business groups.
Although the idea of consolidating Japan's business organizations is not new, efforts toward that end are finally under way, spearheaded by Hiroshi Okuda, who became chairman of the Japan Federation of Employers' Association (Nikkeiren) last year. He is pursuing a consolidation of his group and the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations (Keidanren).
Earlier this week, Nikkeiren set up a 10-strong team to collect opinions from member organizations on the merger proposal by summer. The subject is to be further discussed at Nikkeiren's annual summer seminar.