新日本窒素肥料株式会社の石油化学工業への進出と水俣病問題

-目的と手段の非一貫性-

抄録

The main object of this article is to analyze the strategy of Chisso Corporation when Minamata Disease became a social issue and to explain the paradox of the strategy. I scrutinize the decision-making process of Chisso, which was one of the leading firms in Japanese chemical industry and which caused Minamata disease, one of the worst pollution incidents in Japan. This article focuses on why Chisso increased production despite the knowledge that this would intensify the suffering as well as increase the number of victims.
On the basis of this analysis, it can be concluded that increasing production, which only served to spread the suffering, was the means Chisso used to avoid the further expansion of Minamata disease. The backdrop of this paradox was a complex situation in which the policies of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry's (MITI) and the local government, the strategies of rival firms, and technological change were intertwined.