Responding to the challenges of globalization: human resource development in Japan

Globalization speeds up the competition for human resources among nations. In East Asia, increasing pressure on developing human resources for better economic performance has led governments to implement more skill development policies. In addition, enterprises have also been encouraged to do so in order to improve their market competitiveness. As the leading economy in the region, Japan has increased spending on training, education, and other human resource development activities. Economic stagnation forced both government and enterprises to develop new polices to upgrade workforce skills and to reduce the mismatch between jobs and skills. This paper illustrates the changes in the area of human resource development in Japan in recent years as in response to the challenges of globalization. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.