Abstract
A lot of research on start-up conditions focuses on the social environment, i.e., trait or occupation of his/her parents, level of living, educational settings, intercourse of acquaintances or friends, enterprising settings, psychological appraisal for start-ups, financial support for start-ups, etc. It is true that some financial support or subsidy plays an important role for start-ups especially at initial stage. But such kind of support does not always make start-ups successful in the long run. Financial support seems not sufficient but necessary condition. This paper proves that the sufficient condition for star-ups stems from so-called "strong ties,” i.e., spouses, lovers, work associates, bosses, subordinates, business counterparts, and acquaintances or friends, etc. That finding is verified through the actual investigation which was done in September 2014 by the internet questionnaire toward entrepreneurs (n=1,030) in Japan who have kept their own businesses more than 2 years. While so-called "weak ties" are said to play an important role in occupational transfer processes of white-collar workers, this study illuminates that "strong ties" rather than weak ties play a crucial role in star-up processes.
