2005年度（2005.4～2006.3）　ワークショップ講演

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Record of Workshop/Lecture

Date: April 14, 2005
Lecturer: Shunsuke Yamaguchi, Owner of Kaorido (limited liability company)
(Advisory editor in the Western Japan area for the monthly magazine “Gekkan Entre”)
Theme: Real success stories are not well-known.
Recorded by: Takashi Kobayashi

1. Profile of Mr. Yamaguchi
Mr. Yamaguchi was born in 1964 in Fukuoka Prefecture. He graduated from Osaka University of Arts, Broadcasting Department and entered Recruit Co., Ltd. in 1987. In 1988 he was transferred to that company’s Project Promotion Group, Market Development Section of Employment Information Magazine Division. He launched a project for encouraging major Japanese companies, which at that time employed only recent university graduates, to hire more experienced individuals. In 1993, as soon as he heard on the radio that the Diet had enacted a law dealing with under-population in rural areas, he visited the local governments’ branch offices in Osaka and proposed that his company assist young people returning to their hometowns for work. This action led to the publication of the new employment information magazine “UI Turn B-ing”. In 1996, Mr. Yamaguchi moved to Tokyo and started work at Human Resource Management Department, in a section for human resources research. There, he conducted a study on “motivation resources (What do people work for?)”. In 1997, he launched a new monthly magazine, “Gekkan Entre”. After that, he returned to Osaka and worked at the Public Relations Planning Group of Kansai Human Resource Total Service Division, and was involved in recruitment and HR education for large companies in the Kansai area. During this period, he also worked with the Business Incubation Division, dealing with a business supporting the creation of venture businesses in western Japan. In 1998, he was chosen to be the editor in charge of the western Japan area for “Gekkan Entre”. Mr. Yamaguchi left Recruit Co., Ltd. in 2002. In January 2003 he established Kaorido, Ltd., whose business includes corporate business strategy consulting and alliance promotion.

2. Summary of the lecture
Mr. Yamaguchi’s experience at Recruit
When the number of companies that could afford to post recruitment advertisements was declining, due to the recession following the burst of Japan’s economic bubble, Mr. Yamaguchi proposed to his company’s management that “if we support entrepreneurs, and they are successful in creating venture businesses, they will post recruitment ads in our magazines.” He thus succeeded in publishing the new information magazine “Gekkan Entre,” for people aspiring to leave companies and create new business. At that time, the term “entrepreneur” was not popular among the public. When Mr. Yamaguchi worked at Recruit, he established a venture capital firm, AXEL-INC. and received equity injections from Softbank Corp. and other companies.

Business of Kaorido
Mr. Yamaguchi left Recruit in order to accomplish what he could not accomplish there. He established Kaorido and started a business to support venture business, employing many people who had worked at Recruit. He not only works as advisory editor at ”Gekkan Entre”, but also gives lectures at universities and government-sponsored entrepreneurship courses. He later established Kiten Co.,Ltd., a business matching service company, and became its representative director.

Real success stories are not made public.
There are one hundred and eight different ways to approach the creation of a new business concept. One hundred and eight is the number of “Bonno” (a Buddhist term meaning “various anxieties”). Citing the case of a “fallen leaf” business, Mr. Yamaguchi explained how to create new business concepts. To efficiently locate a new business opportunity, he said, we must always think about business seeds, pursue any business opportunities that we find, and constantly observe and pay attention to what is happening around. “An opportunity loves people who are ready to catch it,” he said. He also said there are business opportunities in situations described by Japanese terms containing the prefix “fu (un-, in-)” such as “inconvenience” and “uneasiness”. Demonstrating a graphical method using two axis, the “personal axis” and the “business axis,” Mr. Yamaguchi explained how to identify new business concepts, and cited some concrete examples of venture business. He stated that “ambition”, “firm commitment,” and a “wide support base” are the requirements for successful entrepreneurship.

3．Comments on the lecture
I thought Mr. Yamaguchi owed much of his success to his business experience at Recruit. His success was not due to any special characteristics of Kaorido, but rather to his experience, tempered by the hard times and challenges he faced at Recruit, which he was able to use to make Kaorido a success.

He does not coordinate and develop businesses only to make money; he selects businesses that are worthy challenges, and takes on these challenges.

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