Japan is now facing an urgent challenge to change its economic system, which has kept the country growing for more than fifty years after the war. Under the protection of the government, regulations, and business rules in every sector, enterprises as well as individuals no longer support in the entrepreneurial way of thinking: that those who challenge against risks should be well rewarded. Japanese economic innovation requires launching of various ventures in every field. In this study, I examined the restructuring conducted by the Japanese companies that have been growing since the end of the war. Secondly, I discuss how critical the present situation is in the context of venturing, using the findings of a survey which indicates the there is a correlation between entrepreneurial activities and economic growth. Next, I examined whether the government-supported venturing promotion programs which started in 1995 helped the Japanese people to change their way of thinking about entrepreneurs, based upon the findings of some surveys. I also examined whether it is possible for Japan to change its present entrepreneurial climate. Finally, I refered to a possible attempt to change the climate by introducing “a scheme to promote collaborative venturing by universities and local organizations or individuals.”

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For revitalizing Japanese industry, we observe the roles of mid-sized enterprises which have achieved sustained growth over several decades against large and start-up firms. This paper focuses on three pharmaceutical companies and identifies the characteristics and roles of their innovations. The characteristics and roles of innovation in these corporations can be summarized as follows: Innovations come in two types: breakthroughs, which occur every 10 or 15 years, and improvements. There are more innovations in product development and improvement innovations than production technology (process improvement). In addition to the above technical innovations, managerial and marketing innovations are important in product introduction and subcontracting of sales. In stimulating of innovation, the roles of technical development and cooperation between industry and academia have contributed to the selection of research subjects and ideas for solution. Also cooperation with other companies has been an important factor in innovation and building human networks. We have identified the characters of mid-sized enterprises. These are close relationships between corporate management and ownership, employees holding a sense of belonging, clear identification of their business domain and mission of the founder and aims to achieve sustained growth, inheritance of the entreprenurship of the founder. Also, business fields are, limited in related fields (not so diversified).

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The technological resources is considered to be the most significant of all internal resources in high-tech field. It is called “technology stock.” Our research project corresponds to radical innovation in the semiconductor field in Japan. And the firm developed R&D through internal resource accumulation independently before commercialization. This study clarifies that investing hastily for commercialization cannot cover insufficiencies of technology stock. And a considerable initial investment was necessary to accumulate enough technology stock. Therefore a radical innovation project practiced by internal resource accumulation over a long period of R&D was not reasonable from the view point of investment efficiency.

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In today's rapidly changing business environment, innovative companies consider changes not as risks but as opportunities for further growth. Through case studies concerning business innovation, the author categorized innovation into three types: “Global Standard Innovation,” “Collaborative Innovation,” and “Value Chain Remodeling Innovation.” Global Standard Innovation aims primarily at establishing a de facto standard of product and service models in order to build a competitive advantage globally, and is characterized by several key strategic activities such as defining core competencies, promoting long-termism in knowledge accumulation, and maintaining strategy consistency for business incubation. This type of innovation is mainly promoted and managed by intra-company innovators who are internally-cultivated “intrapreneurs.” Collaborative Innovation means innovations resulting from established companies' intrapreneurs' collaboration with small business venture leaders. The video game and pharmaceutical industries exemplify this type of innovation. It is indispensable for big company intrapreneurs to balance and adjust benefits for both sides. Value Chain Remodeling Innovation is mainly attained by rebuilding or re-bundling the existing value chain structure of an industry by taking advantage of information technology or by shifting its business focus. Due to the necessity for managers to adapt their styles to the rapid evolution of an organization, leadership changes sometimes occur with this type of innovation. Based on the analysis of each type of innovation, the author has defined three important new roles: 1) “Intrapreneur Accelerators” give emotional and financial support to intrapreneurs, 2) “Intrapreneur Collaborators” are intrapreneurs who interact with venture businesses to achieve mutual advantage, and 3) “Outsider Intrapreneurs” are those who become intrapreneurs from outside companies by offering their professional management expertise through challenging conventional customs in that industry.

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In this paper, I set out to review the history of Japanese and U.S. semiconductor industry from the analytical perspective of knowledge. I also attempt to present a theoretical basis for the differences in knowledge transfer modes between the Japanese and U.S. semiconductor industry. This paper uses the case study method, and concludes that “information stickiness” hypothesis explains the differences in innovation-related knowledge transfer between Japan and the U.S. Based on the “information stickiness” hypothesis, I expect that the transfer mode varies depending on the size (i.e., large firms or ventures) of information senders and receivers. The results of the study can be summarized as follows: The U.S. semiconductor industry uses the lowest stickiness (cost) mode which fits each transfer pattern. Also, the U.S. venture businesses have higher mobility in human resources than Japanese counterparts. This might be one of the factors which facilitated the knowledge transfer in the U.S. semiconductor industry.

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Management of venture capital funds operated by venture capital companies in Japan is not transparent to their shareholders as well as fund investors, because the VC investment partnership agreement lacks articles to prevent conflicts of interest. Particularly, there exist five listed venture capital companies which have serious conflicts of interest between fund investors and their shareholders. This paper investigates conflicts of interest for listed VC companies.

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This paper asks the following question: supposing the environment which surrounds venture business in South Korean venture differs from that of other foreign countries, doesn't a certain difference exist in the factor which influences the performance of a venture business? In order to analyze whether a difference exists and where the difference is from, the factor which affects the performance of venture business was classified into three categories: a founder, strategy, and resources and network capability. Many previous research of some foreign countries were compared with South Korean research. Consequently, it was discovered that several unexpected differences existed in some factors, and analysis about the cause of differences was attempted.

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Many expect that university spin-off venture businesses will lead Japan's high-tech growth in the 21st century. The number of university spin-off venture businesses in Japan is increasing rapidly these days. The Government has launched a plan to create 1,000 university spin-off venture businesses in the next three years. This paper first discusses their needs, definition and types. Then, it clarifies their current situation based on the first survey of university spin-off venture businesses in Japan. It reveals: 1) National universities spin off a considerable number of venture businesses despite their constraints, 2) Half of the founders are faculty members, 3) The initial capital and staff size are larger than their German counterparts, 4) The major motive is to put invented technologies to practical use and many of Japanese university spin-off venture businesses are in manufacturing, 5) The largest issue is financing at the time of start-up but the issues of staff recruiting and patent protection increase in importance later on, and 6) Japanese university spin-off venture businesses receive assistance from their home universities even after spin-off. Finally, some policy recommendations are made.

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This study explores entrepreneurs' decision-making processes regarding start-ups using the behavioral science decision model. The findings tentatively suggest that almost all the results of the American survey were the same as the Japanese one. We examined the kinds of elements that lowered risk perception. Using previous American studies, several control variables were tested. Based on these surveys, we decided to check three typical cognitive biases; over-confidence, illusion of control and belief in the law of small numbers. The results showed that over- confidence is not significantly related to risk perception, as in the US. The significance of the latter two cognitive biases, however, unlike in the US studies, was denied. Therefore, Japanese entrepreneur decision-making is influenced by other complex factors, which should be further explored. Potential entrepreneurs' traits, such as risk propensity, optimism and flexibility have already been excluded in US surveys, but this test shows a significant relation between risk propensity and the decision to start a venture. Ordinary Japanese people think that ventures are only for extraordinary people. That belief still holds. We conclude that more entrepreneurial education and PR measures are necessary to raise the number of start-ups.

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Varied regional programs recently have started to produce entrepreneurs in succession. Although the programs mainly aim at industrial promotion, a few young entrepreneurs with great vitality appear in the many local cities. Young entrepreneurs have a tendency to set their sights high, so it is very important for every local city to make good use of their vitality. Veteran entrepreneurs usually have skill, property, experience and useful connections. They also possess the wisdom to avoid overworking or waste. Young entrepreneurs are apt to fail, but they achieve a great success every now and then. The purpose of this paper is to consider the means to multiply the numbers young persons with entrepreneurial spirit in the local cities. To attain my aim, I investigated the students in the study region and analyzed their entrepreneurial spirit, way of thinking and so on. In the existing circumstances, a lot of young promising persons leave the local cities after graduation or try to find a secure means of making their living. However, the lifetime employment system is now in the process of collapsing in Japan. It has become necessary to introduce the concept of self-employment, self-reliance and entrepreneurial spirit into regional education systems. New programs to build up a closer connection between schools and regional entrepreneurs are needed.

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So many seminars about high-tech start-ups take place in Silicon Valley every day. They are very popular events for high-tech start-ups and entrepreneurs because such seminars provide them with not only business and technology information, but also with networking opportunities to get contacts for funding, human resources, potential clients and so on, which are critical for their business. So called “networking associations” host these seminars and are steadily growing and becoming more important in the venture arena in America, especially in Silicon Valley. Most people think venture capital firms or business incubators are playing very important roles for supporting start-ups. However, networking associations are useful for far more startups and entrepreneurs than venture capital firms or business incubators, because they, in principle, accept any type of entrepreneur as member who can enjoy their services. We call them “Business Incubators without walls.” We, in Japan, should promote a social and cultural background that eases existence of networking associations.

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This paper attempts to make clear the formational mechanism of Zhongguancun Technopolis and test the validity of the Technopolis Wheel Model, focusing on the role of government. Zhongguancun Technopolis, being called “Beijing Silicon Valley,” is a cluster of high-tech ventures and is functioning as the R&D center of the Chinese IT industry. Similar to the role of Silicon Valley, this area is usually viewed as the origin and the model of a Chinese technopolis. Zhongguancun, one of the most famous knowledge centers in China, began its transformation into a technopolis from the early of 1980s and became the center of public attention in the 1990s. As a successful Technopolis in a transition economy like China's, the Zhongguancun case provides fertile ground for academic study from various points of view. However, this study is focusing on the role of governments. Our investigation shows that, in the formation of Zhongguancun Technopolis, governments, including local, regional and central, have played an important role, through promoting the commercialization of academic R&D results, channeling risk capital to the qualified ventures, increasing flexibility of the labor market. In particular, the local government's initiative measures provided a supporting environment for the entrepreneurial activities in Zhongguancun and laid the groundwork for the formation of this technopolis. Our review also reveals that, with some modifications, the Technopolis Wheel Model is consistent with the Zhongguancun case. Although some scholars oppose government intervention in economic fields, our case shows that during the early stage of the economic development, especially in a transition period, as in China, productive and effective intervention by the government in the economy may be possible and necessary.

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The purpose of this paper is to develop a decision-making model for entrepreneurial activity, highlighting the problem of aspiring entrepreneurs’ income–leisure tradeoff, and to examine the relationship between the tradeoff and the entrepreneurial activity. First, we construct the model and determine the conditions for business start-up with or without liquidity constraints. Next, we present some of the important results of the model—for example, entrepreneurs without liquidity constraints reduce their capital investment and increase their leisure in proportion to their own assets, and entrepreneurs with liquidity constraints take more leisure than do entrepreneurs without liquidity constraints. Further, by plotting graphs and using numerical simulations, we validate these findings and obtain some additional information about the model and the nature of solutions.

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