There is no doubt that MITI officials during the peak period of industrial policy had a
great interest in promoting industries, but the outcome was not always as had been
envisaged. The reasons were threefold: first, the choice of policies was wrong; second,
the powers of enforcement were at times too weak to ensure that private firms would
follow the intention of the government, particularly in the 1960s. And third, the
government ex ante often underestimated private dynamism. Indeed, successful
industrialization evolved when industrial policy supported market mechanisms or when
private dynamism counteracted industrial policy.