Changes in Business Ethics during "Lost Two Decades" and Prospects for the Future in Japan : From a View Point of Business Ethics, Compliance, Corporate Governance, and Global CSR

Together with the collapse of the Bubble economy, the s saw the occurrence of numerous scandals related to business ethics that shook Japanese society.This period has been called the lost two decades .Over the roughly -year period from then to the current era, described as the age of global CSR, Japanese corporations have addressed business ethics in order to realize sustainable growth while facing a number of trials.The concept of business ethics has fulfilled an important responsibility from a management strategy perspective as it has grown to encompass the perspectives of compliance, corporate governance, and CSR.In addition, the environments in which corporations operate have undergone striking changes, and these issues have been addressed through legal amendments and improvements to systems in order to enable safe and secure economic activities in Japanese society.Reviewing a single era in light of these considerations can generate a spirit of self-examination and prospects for the future, in the sense of learning from history.In this paper, I will attempt to review the progress of business ethics in Japan over years together with offering opinions on the ideal form for business ethics in the future in order to develop an ethical economic society through the demonstration of self-governance functions by corporations.