Abstract
In the＂quasi—marketed＂childcare business, it is expected that there will be survival competition involving social welfare corporations and NPO corporations in the future. It is presumed that nursery school operators who are particularly sensitive to this situation are currently accumulating know—how for＂survival competition＂. The purpose of this study was to investigate the＂survival strategies＂accumulated in nursery school management companies and to clarify the differences in strategies for each company size. We conducted semi structured interviews with 5 executives of largescale enterprises and 5 executives of small scale enterprises, and asked＂Why did you enter the childcare business?＂and＂What are your strengths? The collaboratorsʼ narratives were categorized using a categorical analysis based on a grounded theory approach. As a result, we were able to generate five category groups：＂Corporate background＂＂, Management policy＂＂, Management strength＂＂, Company management difficulty＂, and ＂Critique of the current situation＂. In the case of a large—scale company, it was found that it is necessary to manage childcare workers by utilizing evidence—based childcare and introducing IT and ICT equipment,and to efficiently provide high—quality childcare. In the case of small—scale companies, the two pillars of＂survival strategy＂are important：childcare content with a high degree of freedom to increase the satisfaction of parents and children, and improvement of the treatment of childcare workers who support the childcare.
