Current Institutional Affiliation
Professor, Graduate School of Geography, Clark University

Award Information

Abe Fellowship 2000
Institutional Affiliation (at time of award):
Assistant Professor, Geography, Clark University
Entrepreneurship and Regional Culture in the Information Age: A Comparative Study of Regional Business Communities in Japan and the United States

This project seeks to examine the formation and social construction of regional culture in the Japanese context, and analyze the role of regional communities in shaping regional culture in Japan and the United States. Although regional culture has been singled out as an important factor for Silicon Valley's growth, its applicability and importance to other U.S. and non-U.S. region is still under question. In Japan, the perceived contemporary shortage of entrepreneurship has become a policy concern, which prompted a fundamental shift in small policy. This project seeks to better understand the process of entrepreneurship generation and the role of regional culture, through case studies of Hamamatsu, Kyoto, Tokyo, and Boston's Route 495. Since thriving entrepreneurship in IT industries is considered critical for further economic growth, entrepreneurship promotion is a common urgent challenge with broad policy implications for industrialized nations.

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