2025年度の活動報告

2025In fiscal years, research courses are held.2It was conducted times.

The outline of each session is as follows (Table 1, Table2,table3reference).2025The annual study group focused on social business, which provides support to people in socially difficult situations, and conducted research on management innovations and other aspects.

No.1For the research session, we invited Mr. Daizaburo Taniyama, President of Standby Co., Ltd., to discuss the current situation of 'bullying issues' in schools and other venues and how to address them. The company aims to create a society where those who want to be helped is committed to providing various services aimed at solving bullying issues. Specific initiatives include developing and selling platforms that allow anonymous reporting of bullying and harassment, as well as awareness activities such as outreach courses at schools.

At the study group, participants first spoke about the state of the "bullying problem," incorporating exercises and their own experiences. Currently, the company is particularly focused on the importance of paying attention to the "audience" and "bystanders" of bullying, and introduced services that reach not only the victims but also these groups. Subsequently, because these services are highly novel, there are many obstacles to their spread, and efforts to overcome these obstacles were also discussed. There are various approaches to the "bullying problem," but the approach to "audiences" and "bystanders" that the company handles is not sufficient. It was also confirmed that solving social issues requires diverse approaches and that a high degree of continuity is a potential approach through business. At the same time, the importance and difficulty of increasing society's acceptance of highly novel approaches were also felt.

No.2For the research meeting, we invited Mr. Maki Fukuju, President and CEO of Rolands Co., Ltd. The company operates florists and cafes, actively creating employment opportunities for people who feel "struggling to live."

At the study group, we asked about the company's employment characteristics and their efforts in employment. Since there are competitors in the same industry, simply offering distinctive employment is not enough to compete with other companies. It is required to provide added value equal to or greater than that of regular business. The company responds to this situation through various innovations. One such approach is to improve efficiency by designing workflows so that tasks are assigned to each individual employer. It was also found that they are working toward achieving their mission by utilizing policy trends such as social farms (certified by Tokyo Metropolitan Government) and national strategic special zones. Given the high social significance of these businesses, I was reaffirmed the importance of skillfully utilizing the points of contact with policy. At the same time, it was confirmed that the necessity of policy support for highly socially relevant projects and the nature of policy support affect the potential of such projects.

（2) Conducting on-site surveys
In fiscal year 2025, two on-site surveys were conducted to deepen understanding of regional economic revitalization. The first visit was to Obihiro City, Hokkaido. The purpose is to conduct a survey on regional revitalization utilizing local resources. At the visit, we interviewed businesses that make bread using locally produced wheat. Among these, the importance of building networks within the region, including local universities and producers, was reaffirmed.

The second session visited Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture. As one of the research outcomes of the Community Business Research Group, Doyukan published 'What Is Truly Necessary for Communities to Revitalize' in March 2013. The theme was to consider regional revitalization from a local perspective, focusing on Ishigaki City, where new airport construction was underway at the time. Within this theme, the potential of guesthouses, which were increasing in number at the time, was highlighted rather than large hotels. This time, we conducted a follow-up survey of the guesthouses we covered at that time. In 2012, just before the new airport was completed, the number of tourists was about 700,000 (although there was a decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic), but by 2025, it will double to 1.5 million, with most of these being accommodations operated by major tourism capital. However, even now, more than 15 years after the first interview, the guesthouse I interviewed was still intact. However, unlike the original business model, the business shifted from meal-included to weekly apartment buildings due to the aging owners, and outsourced management to neighboring coffee shops on remote islands (for children's education), striving to survive according to each individual's lifestyle. Demand for guesthouses is also steadily maintaining. In this way, if management models that flexibly adapt to changes in managers' lifestyles and life stages continue to expand, the potential for guesthouse management from the supply side remains uncertain.