Management:
Corporate
Strategy for Dramatic Productivity: Dramatic Changes
in the Classification of World Competitiveness by Country by Professor Emeritus Akira Ishikawa Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan Former Dean, GSIPEB Senior Research Fellow, ICC Institute, University of Texas at Austin Doctoral Program Chair Declining Since
1993 When we rank comparisons by country, whether such
comparisons relate to world competitiveness, an index of differences between
men and women or average life expectancies, we need to take note of them in
terms of the comprehensive results and index of new product/new business developments
and improvements. For example, with regard to the breakdown of world
competitiveness by country, as shown in Fig. 16.1, the Swiss business school,
the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), in their survey
they have been carrying out every year since 1989, covering 55 countries and regions
in the world, Japan ranked No. 1 in the world in 1991 and 1992, but since 1993,
it has been falling, and in 1997 it suddenly dropped to 17th place.
Since then, it has been floundering between roughly 20th and 30th place
for these past ten years. This world competitiveness comprises of the four
categories: economic conditions, government efficiency, business efficiency,
and the infrastructure. When we examine where Japan stands in terms of these
rankings, we find that in terms of infrastructure, it is maintaining its rank
in the top ten, at sixth place. However, in terms of economic conditions, Japan
ranks in 22nd. In terms of
business efficiency, Japan ranks in 27th, while in terms of governmental efficiency,
Japan is found at a pitiful 34th place. Among developed countries, such a cataclysmic change
in ranking is unparalleled. Meanwhile, with respect to rankings in the category
of male and female differences, while they surely reflect the bias of societal
structures and the degree of modern capitalism's development, where does Japan stand in terms of this ranking? The nonprofit
organization, "World Economic Forum," (headquarters in Geneva) ranked Japan
number 75 out of 134 countries in their report on male and female differences
they release every year. However, it is reported that the organization
revised the ranking down to 101st place in the end of March 2010 after
receiving further indications from organizations for Japanese women (April 5,
2010, Yomiuri Shimbun). For a developed nation, the ranking was unusually low,
yet it ended up dramatically plunging even lower. With regard to the suicide rate and suicide total,
which was raised as the third indicator, while the large number of suicides in
Japan (over 30,000 people annually) is conspicuously reported every year within
Japan, according to WHO's rankings of suicide totals per 100,000 people among
106 countries, Japan is number four after Lithuania, Belarus, and Kazakhstan,
confirming that Japan doesn't rank highly in this category. Incidentally, WHO
predicts that the death toll caused by suicides will surpass 1,500,000 people
in 2020. Fig. 16.1 Changes in world competitiveness Source: The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports,
Science and Technology's graph based on the 2008 IMD World Competitiveness
Yearbook 1. With respect to military power rankings, according
to the 2008 Jane's Defense Weekly, the US, France, Russia, China, and the UK
are ranked among the top five, whereas Japan is ranked an anomalous 22nd. The
major newspaper in India, Hindu, assesses Chinese military power to be at second place. Seventh Place in
The Human Development Index (HDI) As for the Human Development Index (HDI), which
Japan should take seriously, the United Nations has been publishing the report
on it every five years since the year 2000. Japan's standing fluctuates between
the 4th through 10th positions and in the 2006 report, it was not
ranked at a high position, registering at 7th among 26 countries. In contrast to such a low ranking, according to
IMF's GDP World Economic Outlook Database for April 2010, the World Bank GDP
2008 and the GDP data from the CIA (Official Exchange Rate April 2010), Japan's
GDP was 5,068.06, 4,909.27, and 5,108.00 (unit = one billion US dollars), which
places the nation in third place after the European Union and the United
States; and while Japan is predicted to surrender this position to China, Japan
is maintaining a distinct lead over Germany in the fourth place and France in
the fifth. Impressive
Average Life Expectancy What Japan can be proud of, vis-a-vis other nations,
is its average life expectancy. On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the
establishment of the medical department of Kitasato University held in June of
2011 at the Sagamiono Green Hall, Mamoru Mori, the astronaut and Director of the
Miraikan (National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation), delivered a
commemorative lecture entitled, "The Connections of Life as Seen from Space".
In this lecture, he emphasized that the longevity of the average lifetime is
symbolic of a nation's level of progress as a civilization. This is because, to maintain a high average life
expectancy, it is not only indispensable to assure sufficiency of food,
clothing and shelter, but also to see infant mortality rates decline; assure
the availability of medical facilities, enhancements in nursing institutions
and facilities for the elderly; and see improvements in innovations that
elevate standards of living. The audience received Mr. Mori well and gave him a
lasting standing ovation, convinced that he had addressed them with the
intention to inspire the Japanese, a group of people who can become oddly
submissive because they tend to be introverted and have an inferiority complex.
In effect, he had reminded them of their nation's great achievement in the area
of average life expectancy. Bibliography 1. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and Technology, Intensification of World Competitiveness and the
Need for Innovation, 2008 edition - Technology White Paper, Ministry of
Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, 2009, pp. 20-24.
http://www.mext.go.jp/b_menu/ hakusho/html/hpaa200801/08060518/004.htm. Accessed
on May 28, 2011. This paper was excerpted from Dr. Ishikawa's upcoming new book, "Corporate Strategy for Dramatic Productivity," published by World Scientific Publishing Company. Copyright 2013 Akira Ishikawa and WSPC (http://www.worldscientific.com/worldscibooks/10.1142/8702). The paper featured above comprises Chapter 16; additional selected chapters will be featured in upcoming issues of this Journal. [ BWW Society Home Page ] © 2013 The Bibliotheque: World Wide Society |