from yesterday's Nikkei

裁量労働制の対象拡大　金融やＩＴ　　専門知識持つ　法人営業職に

It is learned that the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided to expand the area of the so-called discretionary labor system, in which workes are able to decide their working hours flexibly. Sales workers,tasked with the job for corporate customers, for example, in financial institutions or IT(Information Technology)-related companies, with high technical knowledge, are newly added to expected kinds of occupations.

from today's Nikkei

スマートカー部品量産　スマホ用からシフト　東芝　歩行者識別　アルプス電気　車間通信

Japanese companies such as Toshiba Corporation and Alps Electric Co.,Ltd. will likely start this year in a concerted way to mass-produce components for smart cars, or safety-enhanced cars which is installed with the information technoplogy-related equipment. There are many functions in this area like collision-avoiding one or car-to-car-distance-maintaining one. At present Japanese comapnies account for about 40 percent in　the global market of electric components for smartphones. But as expected profits earned from that area having been getting smaller and smaller with competition among rivals becoming firce, many of the companies wll likely aim to shift their management resources to more profitable area, that is, smart car business.