Recently, most industries have seen a rapid advance in commoditization. Amid this trend, this paper aims to review several design based approaches (DBAs) that have drawn attention as new theories of innovation. The paper also aims to highlight the important differences between existing technology push and market pull innovation strategies within the DBA based innovation process.

This paper starts by introducing the semantic turn as a new foundation for design, picking up themes of design thinking and design driven innovation. Four characteristics of the innovation process are presented:

First is the human centered focus of the design process. Second is aiming for experience innovation. Third is distancing oneself from existing users and markets. Fourth is an emphasis on searching for new meaning and experience in the innovation process.

However, while these approaches are very effective for the handful of practitioners capable of using them, for many practitioners, such as SMEs, they are not easy to implement. Concepts, methodologies, and tools need to be developed to assist practitioners in implementing DBA. I have formulated a definition of “design as a plan for guiding users to a new living world,” identifying “experience design” as the key concept for its implementation and proposing an archetype diagram to serve as a useful and easy to use tool for this purpose.

A goal of strategic management in academia is to clarify the relationship between strategy and performance, namely the organizational effectiveness and persistence of firms. A review, of existing literature reveals that there has been limited empirical research on the effect of strategic management on firm performance. In agriculture, firms provide stakeholder values such as environmental, social and cultural values that reflect on long term persistence. Such stakeholder relationships should be considered when evaluating farm business performance. This paper discusses the findings, methodologies and further prospects of firm strategy through a review of the empirical strategic management literature in international and Japanese academic journals. A model of empirical application in agriculture that considers stakeholder relationships is proposed on the basis of this review and subsequent discussion.

Among 61 articles on managerial strategies published since 2000 in selected Japanese journals, 53 papers are considered as empirical though one paper should strictly be classified as an empirical estimation. Also, 28 papers referred to firm performance, of which 11 papers use quantitative data while 10 focus on a single case. Such difficulties in empirical approaches exist in part because of an incapability of the same technology assumptions for diversified firms. The main findings on effective strategies can be summarized as i) scale increase and avoiding farmland scattering especially for rice farms, ii) retaining price premiums by quality control and channel selections, iii) employment and appropriate value distribution and iv) accumulating knowledge through education, an external relationship that does not rely only on existing human resources.

One obstacle for empirical approaches in strategic management is the nature of objective orientation. Another difficulty is the identification of strategic resources, especially nontangible resources such as knowledge and skill. Also, problems in causality can be highlighted due to the endogenous effects on performance through resource accumulation lead by implementing strategies. In agriculture particularly, the industrial characteristics of the large number of small and medium scale farms constrained by natural and biological production conditions have impeded differentiation and product branding. The small organizational scale also is an obstacle to introducing group learning procedures within individual farms.

A model for empirical application can be started using organizational objectives that consider stakeholder relationships. The strategy is determined based on the objectives that consider managerial resources, stakeholders and external environment. Firm performance is achieved under the effect of strategy, resources, stakeholders and environment. The strategy is amended through the performance evaluation. Such cycles lead to the eventual achievement of objectives. We should note that managerial resources are accumulated through business cycles as well as accruing from the environment and stakeholders.

Further research is required on identifying strategies, resources and performances. Empirical research on performance can be suggested in both approaches that clarifyies the impact of resource accumulation including stakeholder relationships and focusing on the core competences by accumulating resources.

In this paper, the concept of “Projects for Creating Social Value in the Rural and Farm Sectors” is concisely described and then discussed from the viewpoint of strategic management. The management strategies of two cases are analyzed and their backgrounds are discussed in order to identify “Projects for Creating Social Value in the Rural and Farm Sectors.” This is indispensable for regional agriculture and the maintenance and development of rural areas.

Preceding studies undertaken from the viewpoint of strategic management have shown that “Projects for Creating Social Value in the Rural and Farm Sectors” reflect the redefinition of management strategies and the changes in business areas according to local agricultural and communities transitions. The tendency of social contributions made by the Rural and Farm Sectors in the 1970s was realized in the form of mutual aid activities within communities. Since the 1980s, the favorable impacts of various aspects of mountain hamlet life were evaluated and realized in various places as a practice for supplementing community activities and agricultural production. In recent years, economic and social strategies tend to be integrated into agricultural management and related projects as a social project. This repositioning will change the target area of existing businesses according to social issues, and redefine resource development and value chains.

The relationship between Projects for Creating Social Value and management strategies observed in these two cases has resulted in an expansion of the business area and a small piece of innovation for the redesign of the businesses by equipping the management strategies with sociality. Houtoku Corporation has acquired changes in its position and business model in the region by forming a cooperative model for agriculture and welfare. Saisai-kiteya’s support for people with limited access to shopping facilities has realized not only its contribution to the local community, but also the development of its direct sales business, by designing projects that make use of existing resources to solve members’ problems. In view of the above, in order to develop and succeed in Projects for Creating Social Value in the Rural and Farm Sectors, it is important to reconsider and reconstruct management resources in addition to incorporating awareness of social issues into business.

From the viewpoint of strategic management, it can be concluded that Projects for Creating Social Value in the Rural and Farm Sectors contribute to the revision of business structures and management resources in agricultural management. This functions as an opportunity to redefine the value of one’s own management and resource development. Quantitative and empirical research on agricultural management has yet to be conducted that examines whether or not strategic sociality contributes to management development.