Katsunori Sato
Kagawa University
Katsunori Sato is an associate professor at Graduate School of Management in Kagawa University, Japan. He holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Tohoku University and a MSc degree in Business and Commerce from Keio University, Japan. His research focuses on the possibilities of social enterprises in developed countries. He is particularly interested in the regeneration of tsunami-affected areas in Japan. During his doctoral work he studied "Designing Community Development: Neo-Contingency Approach to Community Building Organizations" in Japan. He also has volunteer staff experiences in Japan Institute for Agri-business Incubation and Earth Identity Project.
Abstract:
Four years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. However, outside assistance has been steadily decreasing over those four years. Social entrepreneurs who became active after the earthquake face the reality of having to develop their ideas and sustain their activities with ever decreasing levels of external support. In this study, the author examines the social entrepreneurial activities of the victims of the Earthquake.
As a result of declining support, only four of these organizations are still in operation. This outcome reflects the difficulties affected parties have with regard to continuing their businesses, and many are in a state of flux or a high degree of uncertainty. The results of this analysis showed that external support is still very important for these organizations. It is thought that the findings from this research will help inform both social entrepreneurs and governments, when they consider social enterprises as a viable means for achieving economic reconstruction and job creation in post-disaster contexts.
Keywords:
Social Enterprise, the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tohoku, Sustainability, Continues research
Purpose of study:
Four years have passed since the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. Most of the affected areas were rural areas on the Pacific coast and the role of various actors, particularly the government, in encouraging social enterprise as a means of supporting tsunami affected parties has previously been discussed (Sato et al, 2013).
However, in the phase since, outside assistance has begun to steadily decrease. Social entrepreneurs who started after the earthquake faced the reality of having to develop their ideas and sustain their activities with ever decreasing support from outside the region. In this study the author examines the social entrepreneurship activities of the victims of the Earthquake, as part of a programme supported by the Regional Innovation Research Center, Tohoku University and disaster special project of Japan NPO Research Association (JANPORA).
Survey of literature:
The author has already carried out several studies (Takaura and Sato, 2012; Takaura, Sato and Yokota, 2012; Sato and Takaura, 2013; Takaura, Nishide, Sato and Yokota, 2013) and, even more recently, the author has conducted a web research on sustainability of the social enterprises in the Tohoku region established with grants from Japanese government (Sato, 2014).
Research question(s):
・What is necessary for Social Entrepreneurship activities started in the tsunami evacuation area in order to sustain them beyond the period of outside support?
・How has the situation of social entrepreneurs in the tsunami evacuation area changed over time since the immediate aftermath of the tsunami?
・And, in the future, what might be learned in order to sustainably support people affected by disasters in the future?
Methodology:
Qualitative research: This study is a continuous research survey: the author conducted a semi-structured survey in 2014 in the same way as the initial research survey in 2012 in order to examine changes over time.
In the initial survey the author and colleagues interviewed several social enterprises started by tsunami evacuees. We approached very active organisations in order to secure in-depth interviews at that time.
We utilised semi-structured interviews to let the flow of the conversation without presenting and then analysed the interviews qualitatively and identified key themes and topics discussed by the interviewees.
Conclusion:
External support remains important to sustain activities in vulnerable communities (Sato et al., 2013). Social entrepreneurship by the tsunami victims may be classified to into several types, based upon how they began (Sato et al., 2013). Four years after the earthquake, only one-third of organisations are still in operation, reflecting the difficulty of continuing business by the affected parties, and many are in states of flux or a high degree of uncertainty.
From the results of our analysis, external support is still very important for these organisations. It is considered that the results of this research will help inform the activities of both social enterprises and governments when they consider social enterprise to be a viable means of economic reconstruction and job creation in post-disaster contexts.
