Poles Apart: Industrial Waste Management Regulation and Enforcement in the United States and Japan

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.