ICSB’s – Asia Council for Small Business (ACSB) hosted its 6th regional conference in Tokyo in September 2018. The title of the conference was New Development of Small Business Policy and Management: Toward an Evidence-Based Policy Making for SMEs. ICSB Japan (JICSB) welcomed the world in Tokyo with a cutting-edge conference that blended research, policy, and practices. The organizer Dr. Hiroyuki Okamuro, Conference Chair opened the conference with a warm welcome to all local and international delegates.
Itsutomo Mitsui JICSB past president, Robert Lai, ICSB immediate past president, Hermawan Kartajaya, ACSB President, Indonesia, Ki-Chan Kim, ICSB past president, Vicki Stylianou, ICSB SVP of Development, and Ayman Tarabishy, ICSB Executive Director attended the conference with various Asia affiliate presidents and board members. A copy of the program can be found here:
The continuation of this article showcases on a remarkable SME that ICSB will highlight.
History of SMEs and Manufacturing in Japan:
Tokyo’s postwar economic history, especially the 1950s and early 1960s, in the area of SMEs and manufacturing can be described as unplanned and rapid organic growth.
A key area in Tokyo to capture the manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises development is known as Sumida ward. Paul Waley’s article on “distinctive patterns of industrial urbanization in modern Tokyo ca. 1880-1930” is a great place to learn more about the history of this part of Tokyo.
The development on the Sumida River’s eastern bank stretches back to the Edo period when Fukagawa (today’s Koto Ward) was the site of many of the feudal lords’ warehouses. The Sumida ward location promoted “pioneering industrial facilities” on strategic sites. These large model factories were an attempt by the Meiji administration to transfer and diffuse Western technology in Japan. Sumida Ward relied heavily on rivers and canals for its infrastructural needs.
What is of high interest in Sumida that there was no industrial planning to speak of, and no zoning regulations governing the spatial growth of industrial districts. When the first land use regulations were enacted in 1919 with the City Planning Act, they reflected the status quo rather than provided the government with a strong tool to affect the economic structure of the city.
Sumida starting in the 1990s experienced a rapid decline due to a changing global climate and the Asian financial crisis. Data shows 30-40 percent of small manufacturing firms in Sumida closed. From a vibrant ward to abandoned warehouses seemed inevitable.
