ABSTRACT
In Japan, the integration of governmental and business policy is a clear example of partnerships between governments and business. Following are excerpts from a 1997 talk given in Paris by Katsuo Seiki (then Executive Director of the Global Industrial and Social Progress Research Institute, MITI [Ministry of International Trade and Industry], Japan) about finding the right balance between command and control and voluntary agreements. The MITI is the most powerful ministry in Japan. It is the MITI that finances, develops and co-ordinates, nationwide, Japanese industrial policy, a policy that has traditionally drawn its strength from its long-term approach which emphasises innovation. MITI developed a document called The Environmental Vision of Industries, which shapes Japanese industry, sector by sector, according to life-cycle thinking. Instead of a fragmentary approach, this integrated approach seems to put Japan at the forefront of sustainable business strategic development, which requires close partnerships between government and business.
