It seems to me that if these people are going to continue hanging on to the company, they should at least refrain from collecting their retirement benefits. Another change I would like to propose is to let company founders make greater profits from their initiative. Entrepreneurial start-ups and other small businesses will have an increasingly important role to play in the period ahead, both as sources of new jobs and as sources of new energy for the world of industry. But the ground in Japan is still far from fertile for the growth of such new businesses. People founding a venture face huge risks without the prospect of commensurate returns.
Japan is extremely tough on people who take the initiative to start a new business and then fail.
They are hardly ever given a second chance. But in places like America, people who have experienced several failures are actually given greater credit. The idea is that failures are a form of experience, part of a cumulative learning experience. We cannot hope for entrepreneurs to arise unless we reduce the risks that they face from failure and turn our society into one that gives challengers repeated chances. And when entrepreneurs are successful, managing to overcome difficulties by dint of hard work, they should be compensated accordingly.