ABSTRACT
Since 1993, Japan has been suffering an economic slump. During these fiscally difficult times, many leading firms have initiated ‘Risutora’, a restructuring of their operations. Some of them have eliminated the tradition of lifetime employment and have begun to fire employees for the first time in recent memory. Further, a number of well-established financial institutions have become defunct, and by 1998, the rate of unemployment had risen to 4.3 per cent, an unthinkable figure in the postwar history of the country. In light of these unfortunate developments, fiscal retrenchment and management reforms have become a national issue, especially in the private sector.
