Japanese Entrepreneurs and Their Firms : Survey Results

To understand the meanings of "entrepreneur" and "entrepreneurial firms," as the terms are used in Japan,a research group was organized at the National Institute of Science and Technology Policy.A questionnaire survey was sent to 2400 companies, representative of Japanese entrepreneurial firms in the broadest sense, with 1007 respondents. The findings suggested that there were two types of start-up companies in Japan: those whose CEOs were considering an Initial Public Offering (IPO), and those whose CEOs were not considering an IPO. In terms of educational background of Japanese entrepreneurs, the founder CEOs tended to be less educated than other CEOs. Successful R & D leadership came from the CEO's work experience, and there were not many R&D-intensive companies whose success was the result of the CEO's advanced education. Two categories of founder CEOs in Japan were most common: a) technical and non-technical people with ample work experience but no advanced degrees and b) experienced engineers with advanced degrees and substantial work experience in large corporations. Two factors were found to be key to the company's success: internal (good business strategy, technological strength, and right choice of market) and external (appropriate financing from banks). The results also suggested that public support programs and venture capital firms in Japan have contributed to the growth of young companies, hence the future prospects of Japanese entrepreneurial firms are optimistic. Recommendations are made that Japan create a more effective IPO market for start-up companies and more significant Centers of Excellence among major universities and national research laboratories in order to establish a positive infrastructure, which is critical to start-ups , especially high-tech start-ups.(CBS)