The founder’s syndrome is a disease in which the characteristics and behaviors of the founder, which were effective in creating the organization, work negatively in some phases of the organization’s development. This study examines the founder’s syndrome in Japanese NPOs at the time of business succession.

Until now, the founder syndrome has never been considered or examined in Japan in any context, and the applicability of the concept in the Japanese context has never been questioned.

The purpose of this study is twofold. （1）Does the phenomenon of founder’s syndrome exist in the context of business succession in Japanese NPOs? （2）If so, under what conditions can it be alleviated?

We conducted a questionnaire survey of NPOs throughout Japan that had experienced business succession and analyzed the relationship between residual founder influence and business succession outcomes. Multiple regression analysis of the founder’s influence on organizational outcomes after business succession revealed that the founder’s syndrome phenomenon occurs in the context of Japanese NPOs at the time of business succession. The fact that the founder’s residual influence causes a pathology called founder’s syndrome in the event of business succession suggests that it is necessary to examine how the founder’s time of departure and transfer of authority should be.

Furthermore, the results of the survey indicate that the increasing division of labor in the organization is a mitigating factor of the founder’s syndrome. The division of labor has been found to alleviate the founder’s syndrome, when the organizational structure is established and management discretion is weakened.

This study analyzed entrepreneurial orientation among university students and its impact on their job-hunting outcomes by focusing on entrepreneurship education and family environment. We used data obtained from a two-point internet monitoring survey conducted on university students their Job-hunting. A measure of individual entrepreneurial orientation （IEO） was used in the analysis. The results revealed the following three issues.

First, entrepreneurship education and family environment positively affected IEO. These results suggest that school education nurtures entrepreneurship. The family environment of self-employed and business owners may affect the intergenerational transmission of entrepreneurship. However, the opportunities for entrepreneurship education should be more open since the strong influence of family environment on IEO is an innate environmental disparity.

Second, a family environment with self-employed and business owners positively affected the choice of entrepreneurship education. The results of this analysis suggest that university students may be the choice of entrepreneurship education to prepare for career choices such as starting a business or family business succession.

Third, university students with high-risk orientation in the context of IEO choose to be employed by young firms of corporate age, such as venture firms. Therefore, this analysis suggests that university students with high-risk orientation may be making career choices based on their desire for work experience in a growing field.

Current Situation and Challenges of Entrepreneurship Research