Entrepreneurship and Regional Culture: The Case of Hamamatsu and Kyoto, Japan

Abstract

Aoyama Y. Entrepreneurship and regional culture: the case of Hamamatsu and Kyoto, Japan, Regional Studies. Successful entrepreneurship today must respond to the demands from global market forces. Yet, simultaneously, entrepreneurs must also respond to local social contexts, shaped by historical and regional economic conditions. This paper illustrates how regional culture plays an important role in shaping entrepreneurship, even in a new economic sector. By taking two ‘entrepreneurial regions’ of Japan, Hamamatsu and Kyoto, it is shown how historical legacy and lead firms strongly influence business practices of information technology entrepreneurs. Results of this qualitative research show how entrepreneurship is an integral aspect of evolving and complex regional systems.

Aoyama Y. L'esprit d'entreprise et la culture régionale: études de cas de Hamamatsu et Kyoto, au Japon, Regional Studies. De nos jours, un esprit d'entreprise réussi doit répondre aux forces du marché mondial. Néanmoins, les entrepreneurs doivent répondre simultanément aux contextes sociaux locaux déterminés par des conditions historiques et régionales économiques. Cet article cherche à illustrer comment la culture régionale joue un rôle important dans le développement de l'esprit d'entreprise, même dans un nouveau secteur d'activité économique. A partir de deux ‘régions entrepreneuriales’ au Japon, à savoir Hamamatsu et Kyoto, on montre comment le legs historique et les entreprises de pointe influent fortement sur les usages commerciaux des entrepreneurs en informatique. Les résultats de la recherche qualitative montrent comment l'esprit d'entreprise constitue une partie intégrante des systèmes régionaux complexes en pleine évolution.

Esprit d'entreprise Perspectives régionales Kyoto Hamamatsu Japon

Aoyama Y. Unternehmertum und Regionalkultur: der Fall von Hamamatsu und Kyoto in Japan, Regional Studies. Ein erfolgreicher Unternehmer muss heute auf die Bedürfnisse der globalen Marktkräfte eingehen. Gleichzeitig muss er jedoch auch die lokalen gesellschaftlichen Kontexte berücksichtigen, die durch geschichtliche und regionale Wirtschaftsbedingungen geprägt werden. In diesem Beitrag illustriere ich, wie die Regionalkultur selbst in einem neuen Wirtschaftssektor eine wichtige Rolle bei der Prägung des Unternehmertums spielt. Anhand von zwei ‘Unternehmensregionen’ in Japan – Hamamatsu und Kyoto – zeige ich auf, wie das geschichtliche Erbe und führende Firmen einen starken Einfluss auf die Geschäftspraktiken von Unternehmern im Bereich der Informationstechnik (IT) ausüben. Aus den Ergebnissen meiner qualitativen Forschung geht hervor, dass das Unternehmertum einen wesentlichen Aspekt von sich entwickelnden komplexen Regionalsystemen darstellt.

Unternehmertum Regionale Dimensionen Kyoto Hamamatsu Japan

Aoyama Y. Empresariado y cultura regional: el caso de Hamamatsu y Kyoto, Japón, Regional Studies. Un empresario con éxito debe responder hoy a las demandas de las fuerzas del mercado global. Sin embargo, los empresarios también deben responder a la vez a los contextos sociales a nivel local determinados por condiciones históricas y económicas regionales. En este artículo ilustro de qué modo la cultura regional desempeña un importante papel a la hora de formar el empresariado incluso en un nuevo sector económico. Comparando dos ‘regiones empresariales’ de Japón, Hamamatsu y Kyoto, demuestro cómo el legado histórico y las empresas líderes tienen una gran influencia en las prácticas comerciales de los empresarios en el sector de la tecnología de la información (TI). Los resultados de mi estudio cualitativo demuestran que el empresariado representa un aspecto integral de sistemas regionales complejos y dinámicos.

Empresariado Dimensiones regionales Kyoto Hamamatsu Japón

Keywords:

• Entrepreneurship
• Regional dimensions
• Kyoto
• Hamamatsu
• Japan

JEL classifications:

• L26
• N95
• R5

Acknowledgement

This research was supported by the Social Science Research Council and the National Science Foundation (Grant Number BCS-0095977). The author thanks all the entrepreneurs who donated time from their busy schedules to participate in the interviews. The author is indebted to Professor Hiroshi Matsubara, Professor Yukio Watanabe, and Professor Yoshitaka Ishikawa for sponsoring the author's stay at their respective institutions in Japan. The author also thanks the Editors of Regional Studies and Henry Yeung, Guest Editor of the special issue, for their support.

Notes

Various media accounts exist on the changing portrayal of entrepreneurs in the post-war period in Japan (Andrews, 1995; Moffet, 1996; Sugawara, 1996; Magnier, 1999). There has also been a backlash against aggressive entrepreneurs as two prominent entrepreneurs/venture capitalists have been accused of corporate misconduct in the past few years.

Interview by the author, 21 June 2002, Kyoto.

Interview by the author, 28 July 2001, Hamamatsu.

Tokyo prefecture represents the largest concentration of higher education, with 130 universities. Among 47 prefectures, in Japan, 17% of all universities in Japan are in Tokyo (Statistics Bureau, 2006).

Using the data for the late 1990s, Okamuro (2006) concludes that one-fifth of business start-ups are in Japan's three largest metropolitan areas, Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya. Furthermore, four out of the top ten cities with the highest business start-up rates were located in Tokyo Prefecture (Statistics Bureau, 2007).

The shift in small and medium-sized enterprise policy from subcontracting to entrepreneurship promotion was signalled with the enactment of the Temporary Law Concerning Measures for the Promotion of the Creative Business Activities of Small and Medium Enterprises in 1995. Thereafter, the government enacted a number of laws that facilitate entrepreneurship in the late 1990s (Kurose, 1997; SMEA, 1998; Aida et al., 2007).

Bosma et al. (2007) scored entrepreneurs in Japan at the lowest on growth motivation. The present author's initial intention was to limit the sample firms to those established after 1985, after Plaza Accord took place and for the first time the Japanese economy faced real competition from abroad without currency-rate protection. However, this approach yielded too few samples due to slower rates of growth by Japanese firms. The data from the SMEA shows that fewer than 40% of small businesses that existed in 1997 were set up after 1987, and the figure is suspected to be much lower for the information technology sector, and newer firms had not reached the stage beyond consultancy.

The city is the birthplace of Nintendo (video games), Kyocera (new ceramics), Murata Electronics, Rohm Corporation (semiconductors), and Shimadzu and Horiba Corporations (precision instruments).

Interview by the author, 27 May 2002, Kyoto.

Interview by the author, 14 June 2002, Kyoto.

Interview by the author, 17 July 2002, Kyoto.

Interview by the author, 23 May 2002, Kyoto.

The integration of Japanese–Brazilian workers has not gone without incidents, however. ‘No foreigner’ signs and abusive behaviour at retail stores have resulted in lawsuits.

Interview by the author, 26 June 2001, Hamamatsu.

Interview by the author, 4 July 2001, Hamamatsu.

Interview by the author, 8 July 2001, Hamamatsu.

Interview by the author, 24 September 2002, Kyoto.

Forum speaker at the Venture Business Laboratory, Kyoto University, 17 June 2002.

Interview by the author, 21 June 2002, Kyoto.

Forum participant at the Venture Business Laboratory, Kyoto University, 17 June 2002.

Interview by the author, 28 July 2001, Hamamatsu and Kyoto.

Interview by the author, 4 July 2001, Hamamatsu.

Interviewed by author, 16 June 2002, Hamamatsu.