Venture Review

When we investigate the conditions under which the long-established onsen-ryokan, Japanese style hot-sprig inn, has survived, we can find the various types of business development models. Ogoto onsen area, which we take up in this paper, has been sluggish under the burden of past negative images accompanied by the temporary boom of amusement business in this district in 1970s. Two owners of onsen-ryokan, who succeeded their business in those days, have felt a sense of crisis to the situation at that time, and progressed the changes to break down the conventional customs and traditions as local entrepreneurs. At the same time, they exerted themselves to train the young successors of the next generation, and focused on their own team- building. They become now the new owners of onsen-ryokan and challenge to the local revitalization as the main entrepreneurs under the strong solidarity.

Key words:long-established onsen-ryokan, succession of the business, entrepreneurship, revitalization

The purpose of this research is to set up the hypothesis about the outside resource based corporate venturing (CV) conducted by Japanese venture enterprises. Specifically, we analyze the related companies created by the umbrella organization and the change of the segments.
In order to verify the above issues, we conducted a case study about SoftBank Corp. Group. Especially, we make the databases on business segments, related companies and investments of the group. The databases are used for analysis by networking software "Pajek".
In this study, the followings are the findings regarding the outside resource based CV by Japanese venture enterprises. (1) The frame work of the outside resource based CV is constructed by (a) context (strategic and economic), (b) characteristics of CV (resource transfer and investment approach), and (c) outcomes (strategic and economic). (2) The formation of outside resource based CV, conducted by Japanese venture enterprises, should be called "Type-F (Fund) organization". At the kind of organization, most of segments are replaced in the short term, like an investment fund.
There are limitations of this paper. (1) The single case study is not enough to generalize the conclusion. (2) The effect of internal corporate venturing is not researched. In order to challenge the limitation, a variety of research methods should be adopted.

Key words:Corporate Venturing, Type F Organization, Corporate Venture Capital Investment, M&A, SoftBank Corp.

　The purpose of this paper is to explore the internationalization process of Japanese SME manufacturers with case studies. Japanese SME manufacturers had depended on the domestic large companies under subcontract relationship. This means that managerial activities of Japanese SME manufacturers have been restricted to Japanese domestic market. However, due to the global competition, they faced the oversea shift of their domestic customers. Thus, currently, some of them are strongly required to enter foreign market for their business continuity. On the contrary, the internationalization process of Japanese SMEs manufacturers remains poorly understood. Therefore, in this paper, we tackle this puzzle with exploratory approach from the viewpoints of some entrepreneurial concepts.
　In Yamamoto and Natori (2014), we focus on international entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) as the driving force to accelate internationalization of SME manufacturers. Top-managers in some of Japanese SME manufacturers have formed and increased IEO, building social network and appropriate organizational structure and made it possible to enter foreign market. Based on these findings, we built the hypothetical viewpoints to analyze the internationzaliton process of Japanese SME manufacturers.
　We theoritically attempt to extend the above hypothetical viewpoints, utilizing other entrepreneurial concepts such as export market orientation(EMO), and learning orientation(LO).EMO and LO are driven by IEO and directly related to the entrepreneurial behavours to enter foreign market. Especially, we focus on the" Market Information Collection " as the entrepreneurial bahaviour with MEO and LO. Based on our case studies, it is shown that top-managers directly visit foreign market and customers to collect market information. Additionally, they built the appropriate organizational structure to utilize those information. From those new findings, we showed the theoritical model of internationalization process of Japanese SME manufacturers.

Key words:SME manufacturers, Internationalization, IEO, EMO, LO, Market Information Collection

Community promotion is one of the urgent issues of Japan. One of the key points for success in community promotion is the managing ability of the organizations which take the initiative in community promotion activities. There are
several successful cases of organizations which can be called as "Community Promoting Organization" took the initiatives in these activities. One of the cases is the case of Oarai Creative Management Co. Ltd, which is a social entrepreneurship created by local enterprises for the development of Oarai Town, Ibaraki Prefecture and promoting tourism in the area.
Recently, the case of promoting tourism linking with animated cartoon in Oarai became famous, and Oarai Creative Management Co. Ltd took the initiative in these activities. In this study, I will analyze the management and the capabilities of Oarai Creative Management and point out the key factors which led the success of this promotion. As a result, not
only the capability of Oarai Creative Management was crucial for the success but also trustful relationship between Oarai Creative Management and outsiders was crucial. The reason for Oarai Creative Management can develop such relationship is due to its emphasis on its core ideology of the firm which sees the development of Oarai its top priority and aggressiveness for new activities.

Key words:Community Promoting Organization, Social Entrepreneurship, Organizational Capability, Trustful Relationship, Core Ideology of the Firm