Japan's innovators and entrepreneurs are a real success story against the odds, surviving recession in the 1990s to prosper in today's competitive business environment. Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan explores the struggles of entrepreneurs and civic-minded local leaders in fostering innovative activity, and identifies key business lessons for an economy in need of dynamic change. Ibata-Arens offers in-depth analysis of strategy in firms, communities and in local government. Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Japan examines detailed case studies of high-technology manufacturers in Kyoto, Osaka and Tokyo, as well as bio-tech clusters in America - demonstrating far-reaching innovation and competition effects in national institutions, and firms embedded within local and regional institutions. The book is essential reading for academics and students of business, economics, political economy, political science, and sociology. It will also appeal to investors, entrepreneurs and community development organisations seeking new perspectives on global competition and entrepreneurship in high-technology enterprises.
Kathryn Ibata-Arens is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at DePaul University in Chicago. She was recently a Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership Abe Research Fellow in the Faculty of Commerce, Doshisha University, Kyoto (2005-2006). Her work has appeared in journals including Asian Business and Management, Review of International Political Economy, and Enterprise and Society.
1. Introduction; 2. Regions and firms; 3. Innovation theory: firms, regions and the Japanese state; 4. Japan's quest for entrepreneurialism; 5. Inter-firm networks; 6. The Kyoto model; 7. Regions in comparison; 8. Conclusion; Appendix; References; Index.
Kathryn Ibata-Arens is the international leader in tracking and analyzing changes in Japan's industrial policy. Her work is particularly important in studying reactions from below to governmental initiatives and how Japanese smaller and medium-sized firms sometimes manage to succeed in the face of numerous official and financial obstacles. This is new research on Japan's industrial organization and capacity for innovation. Chalmers Johnson, author of MITI and the Japanese Miracle