Eric Hildum points out that NTT has had quite a heavy hand on the
axe, and within the decade:
> Oh, how quickly memories fade. It was NTT's layoff of 10,000 staff in
> 1993/94 that allowed other companies to do the same. NTT was actually the
> first and biggest job killer...
This was in response to my:
> > From: "Michael Turner" <leap@gol.com>
> > If DoCoMo can make "Java = secure, economical, easy, mobile
> > on-line product ordering" an equation in Japanese consumer's
> > minds, you might really have something. Unfortunately, though,
> > you can already get that in most people's minds with a human
> > order-taking operator. It would be cheaper? Yes, but only if
> > there are layoffs. And this is Japan, and more specifically, NTT,
> > we're talking about here. Is huge, unionized, amakudari-ridden
> > NTT going to be one of Japan's biggest job killers? Hmm...
Note that I wasn't talking about NTT jobs, but rather jobs at
thousands of order-taking call centers throughout the country,
in many *other* businesses. NTT doing its own bloodletting,
that's one thing. But unleashing "destructive competition" on
the whole economy...well....
I should also point out that 10,000 workers is a lot fewer than
AT&T has had to shed as a result of deregulation and competition.
And that these NTT layoffs happened not as a result of major
technological change, nor major deregulation, but rather in the years
when the bursting of the Bubble was really sinking in. If anything,
this bloodletting probably led to a tighter circling of the wagons,
rather than a more cavalier attitude about layoffs.
More generally, there is the noted problem of what widespread
e-commerce might mean in Japan, a country that has been
characterized as "a nation of middlemen" and "a nation of
shopkeepers." The ability of the system here to resist change
when it means people having to change jobs is not to be
underestimated. The chief tactics used are delaying tactics.
Finally, look at your own words: "...NTT...that allowed other
companies to do the same." NTT can lead change - or
forestall it. In the early post-Bubble era, it was easy
to say "look, we have to shed staff - even NTT got a little
too fat." By the same token, though, managers who remember
that trauma - and who have since run companies with an
economy that's been sputtering for about a decade now -
might just as easily go along with a sentiment like "Well,
e-commerce, that's great [except that I have to lay off
half my department now], but NTT is getting cold
feet, so maybe *we* shouldn't be so brave either."
Michael Turner
www.idiom.com/~turner
Received on Wed Jul 19 10:15:48 2000