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Poles Apart: Industrial Waste Management Regulation and Enforcement in the United States and Japan
Author(s) -
Aoki Kazumasu,
Cioffi John
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
law and policy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.534
H-Index - 45
eISSN - 1467-9930
pISSN - 0265-8240
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9930.00072
Subject(s) - enforcement , profitability index , multinational corporation , corporation , business , adversarial system , compliance (psychology) , industrial organization , environmental regulation , economics , public economics , finance , law , political science , psychology , social psychology
This article explores the differences in experiences, attitudes, and compliance regarding waste management regulation in a multinational corporation's parallel manufacturing operations in the United States and Japan. The more detailed and prescriptive rules and legalistic and adversarial enforcement processes of the American regulatory “style” engendered more antagonism towards regulation, while the Japanese system’s more general “performance standards” and informal enforcement methods appeared to facilitate acceptance of regulatory norms and improvement in environmental practices. In contrast to the American plants’ marginal profitability and reliance on domestic markets, the Japanese plant’s profitability and substantial exports make its managers more sensitive and responsive to environmental concerns.