FT and Credit Suisse Lex Forum Series: Charting the New Economic and Financial Landscape 2010

Many developed nations have sought new growth strategies since the financial crisis. Underlying this trend is an anxiety over the long-term viability of traditional growth patterns in the new global environment, exemplified by the deleveraging in the US, increased sovereign risk in the Eurozone, and in the case of Japan, structural deflation and deteriorating demographics.

The Japanese government's New Growth Strategy in June was designed to spur fresh demand and employment through a focus on various strategic fields. It specified policy goals and timetables both on the demand side, in areas such as the environment, social security and welfare, and medical tourism, and on the supply side, for instance by seeking more job opportunities for women and the elderly. Revitalisation of the Japanese economy however will also require efforts by the private sector, in particular to overcome renewed pressure from international competitors.

In the latest in a global series of strategic forums looking at the key challenges facing the financial industry and capital markets, the Financial Times and Credit Suisse gathered senior decision-makers from both the public and private sectors in Japan to look at the innovative strategies being adopted by companies to survive in the post-crisis economy, and to discuss what is needed from both the government and private business to achieve a Japanese renaissance.