2014年度の活動報告

Musashi University Faculty of Economics Department of Management　Noriyuki Takahashi

This year, as in the previous year, we carried out three main activities.
The first is the "Introduction to Community Business Course" and "Community Business Practical Course" which are being implemented as a commissioned project from the Nerima Ward Industrial Promotion Corporation (Nerima Business Support Center).
For these two courses, the university and Nerima Ward are working together to plan the courses, secure the venue, and provide support for running the courses on the day, while the courses themselves are being provided by external lecturers.
The features of this year are as follows:
First, the contractor was changed from Nerima Ward to the Nerima Ward Industrial Promotion Corporation (Nerima Business Support Center). Although operations became more flexible, there were no substantial changes.
Secondly, the weighting of the introductory courses was lightened somewhat and the weighting of the practical courses was increased. This was done in order to meet the needs of the students as much as possible within the limited resources available, and to get closer to the ultimate goal (to produce practitioners).
In other words, the number of introductory courses was reduced from three to two, and the number of practical courses was increased from five to six. Table 1 and Table 2 As follows.
Furthermore, the final presentation of the practical course, which had few attendees other than the presenters due to the heavy snowfall last year, was a great success. The main reason for this was that the course was attended by students from a separate course run by the Nerima Ward Industrial Promotion Corporation (Nerima Business Support Center) for general business start-ups (meaning business start-ups that are not community businesses). In reality, it is difficult to draw a strict line between general business start-ups and community business start-ups, and there is no need to force a line, so the effect of encouraging such exchanges is great.
The contents and number of participants of the introductory course and practical course are as follows: Tables 1 to 4 As of the current fiscal year, the practical courses will be subject to a fee (3,000 yen for a total of five sessions), and the tuition fee will be paid directly by the students to the Nerima Ward Industrial Promotion Corporation (Nerima Business Support Center).
Also, of the five people who made it to the final presentation in last year's practical course, several have already started their own businesses, although not full-time, which is another piece of good news this year: the effects of the course are gradually taking shape.
Two groups of second-year students from Musashi University participated in the fifth practical course, the business plan presentation (mid-term presentation), and, speaking alongside working adults, gave presentations on how they could use business to solve the issues in Nerima Ward that they had identified from a student perspective.
Either way, Table 3 and Table 4 As mentioned above, out of the total of eight introductory and practical courses, six had more participants than the capacity, and it can be said that the introductory and practical courses, which have been implemented in collaboration between Nerima Ward and the university, have become quite established.

The second is the implementation of a community business "research" course. This course began in 2012. The "introductory" and "practical" courses are aimed at people who are about to start a business, and focus on providing guidance on know-how, starting with the mindset of the person in charge. However, the research course is aimed at people who want to learn more about community business and those who have already started a business, and covers the environment surrounding community business and hot topics in the area. It is characterized by being aimed at a wide range of people, including those who are only interested, those who have no intention of starting a business themselves but are interested in supporting it, those who are considering starting a business, and those who have already started a business. The ultimate aim is to form a "community" around community business. For this reason, the research course does not simply end with the lecturer giving a talk, but instead devotes the last 30 minutes or so to a place for participants to interact with each other.
This year, we held six seminars in total, an increase from last year's five. We also invited two entrepreneurs who started businesses in Shiga Prefecture using the system of the Shiga Prefecture Industrial Support Plaza, which we visited as a case study site for this study group, to hold a research seminar. This can be interpreted as an organic connection between the seminar project and the research project of this study group, and we would like to continue this kind of initiative in the future.
One thing to reflect on is that the number of participants is lower than the capacity. This year, we had a reaction to rejecting people at the application stage, and we had over 40 applications, but because it was a free course, it was easy to cancel, and because we required participation in six consecutive sessions, some students who dropped out midway through the course did not continue to attend.
Regarding this point, we would like to take measures next year such as accepting more applications in order to increase yield, and allowing one-time participation in a specific event.

The third is a field survey of local community-based revitalization efforts.
This year, a total of four hearing surveys were conducted in four regions.
The schedule, themes, and main contents are as shown in Table 7. Of these, Yomitan Village, Okinawa Prefecture, has been the subject of ongoing research for several years, but this latest survey marks the end of the project. One of the major factors that has enabled regional revitalization in this area to get back on track is that while the government has laid out a broad framework and provided institutional support, entrepreneurs have taken responsibility for funding and management at their own risk, and there has been a clear division of roles in this regard.
In addition, we have been able to compile the results of our research in Shimanto City, Kochi Prefecture, so this will be the end of our research in this area for the time being. While the debate over whether to turn the site into an educational facility or a tourist facility remains unresolved, the severe financial situation has emerged as an urgent issue, and a fundamental solution to this problem is yet to be seen.
We were also able to provide a rough summary of Shiga Prefecture during this survey, which became a valuable resource as a success story.
Meanwhile, this was the first time we covered Tsuno Town in Miyazaki Prefecture. In contrast to Yomitan Village, the implementing body was a completely private company, while Miyazaki Prefecture's case is run by a third-sector organization. Either way, this is a successful case in the sense that wine was made in Miyazaki Prefecture and a contribution was made to local farmers. However, when considering new initiatives in the future (for example, capital investment and securing farmland), there are still issues that need to be resolved, and we would like to continue to conduct research into how to address these issues.