A STUDY ON THE POTENTIAL OF REGIONAL RECONSTRUCTION AND REVITALIZATION INDUCED BY POLICY-DRIVEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

DYNAMIC CHANGES AND GROWTH WITHIN ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITIES

Abstract

This study investigates how the “internal consciousness” of 58 entrepreneurs, who started busi-nesses in the coastal disaster areas of Iwate Prefecture affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake and received policy support measures (from 2013 to 2015), and the connecting behaviors among these entrepreneurs within their community dynamically change, chain, and spread, leading to their growth. The bonds that form this community are not based on “trust” but rather on (1) shared cir-cumstances in facing entrepreneurship, (2) a sense of attachment to the region, and (3) expectations for new business developments. The individual connecting behaviors evolve by involving sur-rounding collaborators, leading to new structures and orders. To promote such connections, the formation of a “shared sense” as a community and mechanisms for “individual autonomous and free connections” are effective.