After WW II, the Japanese industry was eager to introduce and master American and European technology. In the next phase, MITI lead a number of cooperative projects, in which the government, academic circle and industry cooperated, to develop original technologies. As a result of this policy, leading Japanese businesses have reached a level comparable to American counterparts in many areas of advanced technology. During the so-called trade friction, MITI had to practically abandon this type of policy under Washington's pressure against the "targeted policy". Then the United States succeeded in restoring its technological superiority to Japan by promoting technology transfer from the military to the civil sector, and providing the semiconductor and communication industries with strategic support, deftly modeled on the Japanese technology policy, to development of next-generation technologies. These experiences motivated establishment of the National Technology Strategy, which specifies principal development goals in each industry, in April 2000. The number and quality of Japanese researchers and engineers are at fairly satisfactory level. However, the country is much in need of technical managers capable of implementing plans, organizing people, and managing effectively the whole process from R&D to new industries. Such talents can be fostered only through research and education in MOT, as our society has been advocating for fifteen years. It should be emphasized again that organizations for research and education of MOT is a prerequisite for revival of the Japanese industry based on the National Technology Strategy.

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The author presents his ideas on prerequisites for successful international standardization based on his experiences as a forme chairman of a working group for image coding (JPEG, MPEG). An important factor that led to success in the standaridization of the JPEG format is open competition for determination of technical specifications, which prompted entry of candidates regardless of historical biases. Another was insistence in standardization as the supreme principle, these provided a model for subsequent standardization activities. Key factors in the fruitful MPEG standardization were : (1) winning support of world's leading manufacturers for MPEG, (2) quest for the best standards ever based on study of historical experiences, and (3) activities accelerated to establish the standards in time for the generalization of the Internet. In the process of discussion, Japanese participants were not effective enough in communication with others due to their discourse with some peculiarities. This led us to concentrate on presenting empirical facts. Competent persons are essential in standardization : it requires individuals who are knowledgeable about technical aspects of standardization, confident of its importance, and influential in their affiliations.

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Discussions in the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU-T) on standardization of optical transmission systems and devices are described as exemplifying relationships between strategies on international standardization and intellectual properties, diplomatic aspects of international standardization, and corporate R&D strategy as related to standardization. Standardization activities involve coordination processes to attain common understanding among parties with different histories, value systems and cultures. The 500-year history of standardization in Europe provides a plenty of lessons for the Japanese, who have limited experience in this field, to learn. Since the practice and skill of arriving at agreement between different opinions through dialog are a prerequisite of internationalization both at personal and national levels, international standardization activities should provide us valuable information as well as an opportunity of learning.

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The new traceability program is an important element in the standard certification system. The program has prompted a number of new moves for international equivalence in support of the Convention of Meter. Declarations of equivalence of national standard authorities will reveal international relationships among metric standards (international traceability) and lead to more rational policies at the national level. The new traceability program defines clearly the responsibility for calibration and certifies organizations capable of calibration under defined conditions. The new traceability program started in Europe as a part of technology policy. This aspect should be learned by the Japanese in relation to quality control. The program can contribute to assurance of reliability of scientific and technological data: using instruments calibrated by internationally certified organizations will guarantee the reliability of data obtained. Establishment of the traceability program and mutual recognition of national metric standards will be the largest events in the history of the 125-year old Convention of Meter. Japan should also contribute to this process as a member country.

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End of Cold War, establishment of WTO, European unification and rapid growth of Asian economy are among principal factors in the recent drastic change in economic framework of the world. Japan's involvement in the global economy and megacompetition has prompted widespread discussions on the "global Standard". These circumstances have changed also the conditions in which industrial standards are situated. However, Japan's activities concerning international standardization have not been very positive, though with different achievements by different areas, to cope with the changes, needing a fundamental reform before it is too late. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry has been implementing various policies since it received in November 1997 a proposal on international standardization policy by Japan Industrial Standards Committee. However, the author believes that a clearer target and a clearer plan is necessary for enhancement of internationalization of Japanese standards still lagging European counterparts, and proposes an International Standardization Promotion Plan, including doubling Japan's occupation of the posts of Secretary Country in ISO/IEC (from 42 to about 80) and doubling of proposals for international standards from Japan (30 to about 60).

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Product development is a critical phase in the technological innovation process of an industry. A deeper understanding of the characteristics of each industry is a perquisite to applying the relevant strategic management tools. In this respect, IT seems to be evolving in a radically new innovation pattern compared to other industries. Many analysts describe the high-tech environment in terms of its uncertainty and complexity. However, very few have distinctly characterized these factors nor measured and provided empirical determination. Uncertainty is defined in terms of a combination of technological innovation cycles with the changing market share. On the other hand, complexity is defined in terms of the problem-solving activity where it is shown that a horizontal versus vertical network structure determines the level of complexity. Empirical analysis of the two factors shows that the IT industry exhibits a higher level of uncertainty and complexity as compared to the automobile industry. These findings suggest that managers and strategists should adopt new modes of management to succeed in the highly turbulent IT environment.

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The national health expenditure is increasing continuously in leading countries because of advances in medical technology and aging population. This makes it an urgent matter to reconstruct healthcare service as a cost-effective social system in competitive environment. This paper examines the following subjects which constitute the key components of the issue. 1) Moves for cost-efficient health care delivery 2) Emergence of new businesses in pharmaceutical industry 3) The role of home care for seamless care delivery

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In recent years, problems related to science, technology and society, such as genetic engineering and the greenhouse effect, have become more complex. These problems cannot be easily solved by scientists, engineers, and government alone. Greater participation of the general public in decision making is needed. A new decision making system called consensus conferences is attracting public attention as a means to facilitate input from citizens. In this article, first, I present an outline of consensus conferences. Then I argue that the consensus conference is a developed type of technology assessment that has emerged as a means of overcoming the paternalistic policymaking process and to obtain the ideal consensus. Second, such expectations derive from inadequate theoretical examination of the consensus conference. In fact, the consensus conference should be interpreted more as a democratic visualization of the problem than as a tool for building consensus. Evidences supporting this argument are obtained by examining consensus conferences actually held in Japan.

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