After collapse of the bubble economy, the earning capacity of the company declined.
Personnel and pay system was required to convert to so called pay system by merit system from conventional pay system based on age, length of service to the system that makes much of result.
The merit system was adopted in Fujitsu, Honda and many Japanese companies, however it is evaluated now most were failure.
Because the characteristic of the merit system is that salary amount is determined according to the result. Therefore employees do not become cooperative and are going to leave a good result by personal play. If it is a European and US companies, this means will raise the motivation of employees.
But in Japanese company an employee is registered at the same company for a long time, and the connection between employees is close.
Employees do not work in individuals but work by a team unit. Even if the merit system that demands a personal play is adopted, team play would be obstructed.
One of the characteristics of Japanese management is to develop personnel by letting them move premeditatedly and repeating OJT and duties experience.