Demography and Digital Transformation in Japan

Brian Stewart ()
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Brian Stewart: Simon Fraser University

Chapter Chapter 11 in Adopting and Adapting Innovation in Japan's Digital Transformation, 2023, pp 177-191 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract Japan is the world’s third largest economy with global leadership in the automotive sector and industrial manufactured supported by a world class education system and a culture that incorporates a strong work ethic. Despite these advantages Japan’s digital competitiveness is not reflective of their global standing with twenty-eighth position in digital competitiveness, thirty-ninth in talent, a management practices ranking of 62 out of 63 and the lowest adopter of public cloud technology in the G10, reflecting an economy that is slow to adopt digital in both its private and public sectors (IMD, (IMD, (2021) IMD world digital competitiveness ranking 2021. https://www.imd.org › wcc › docs › release-2021) IMD world digital competitiveness ranking 2021. https://www.imd.org › wcc › docs › release-2021). Japan is also the oldest of the advanced economies with 28% of its population 65 and over, triple the world average and an average median age of 48.4 in 2020 (Bloom (Bloom (2020) Population 2020, Demographics can be a potent driver of the pace and process of economic development IMF Finance and Development https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/changing-demographics-and-economic-growth-bloom) Population 2020, Demographics can be a potent driver of the pace and process of economic development IMF Finance and Development https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2020/03/changing-demographics-and-economic-growth-bloom ). The low net migration flows of recent decades have combined with a falling birth rate and high urbanization rates to create a unique demographic structure. One that is being increasingly studied as other advanced economies age, in addressing this problem Japan leads the world. The aging of its society has implications for all aspects of Japanese social, political, and economic life. Of relevance here is the impact an older workforce has on the adoption of digital technology and the related management practices and methods that can generate and spur innovation. In composite the question this raises is: how will an aging society affect the adoption rate and depth of digitally enabled business transformation? Restating this, with more of its corporate leadership, managers, employees, and customers looking forward to years of tranquility rather than transformation how will Japan find a path to adopt digital affordances and to adapt its management traditions?

Keywords: Digital adoption; Digital transformation; Japanese demographics; Japanese management; Japanese Leadership (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/978-981-99-0321-4_11

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