INTRODUCTION
 The Asian Productivity Organization has been conducting
various activities related to the environment over the past ten
years with a view to increasing environmental consciousness and
promoting policy, technology and knowledge on the protection and
improvement of the environment among its member countries.
However, measures taken by factories and farms in the region are
often not satisfactory for solving environmental problems in
spite of ever-growing awareness on the issue. The reasons for
this are probably because conventional waste treatment
technologies tend to impose a net cost on industries and thus
erode their competitiveness.
Inspired by the developments during 1992 such as the Earth
Summit in Rio and the Agenda 21, the APO launched its Special
Program for the Environment in 1994 under a special grant from
the Japanese government. In an endeavor to find practical and
attractive approaches for industries to deal with both
productivity and environmental protection for sustainable
development, the APO has decided to tackle the issue with the
concept of Green Productivity (GP). In concrete terms, GP aims
at instituting a better environment in the process of increasing
productivity thus lending a competitive edge to the businesses
in the age of globalization.
To substantiate the GP concept, the APO has adopted a
multi-dimensional micro-to-macro approach to promote GP
practices. It focuses on the enterprise level through the
applications of productivity and management tools (such as TQM,
5S, TPM etc.) that are in tandem with waste and emission
prevention, energy conservation, pollution control, and
Environmental Management Systems (EMS). Initially taking off
from the industrial sector, the GP is now being increasingly
applied to agriculture, service industry and the even
communities. GP is thus evolving as a drive with comprehensive
strategies for sustainable socio-economic development.
Over the last several years, the APO has actively promoted the
concept of Green Productivity throughout the region through the
forms of demonstration projects, information dissemination, and
promotional missions. APO has established partnerships with NPOs
and various industrial development organizations around the
region.
The APO initiated a research survey in late 1998 to study the
state of GP implementation in Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan,
Thailand, the Philippines, and Japan. The specific research
goals were to review the existing national efforts to promote GP
and GP-related approaches; compile case studies of GP
implementation in SMEs and analyze barriers to further adoption
of GP practices; and provide recommendations on how to further
develop GP in the region.
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