Japan’s external entrepreneurial environment is not as favourable as in the West. Sponsor/support entrepreneurs in-house with time and money.
Contrast with ‘intrapreneurs’.
Example: Fujitsu matches employee investment in their own businesses, and offers to buy them out if they are successful. According to management this is “a chance (to support) people who are unable to make full use of their abilities within the confines of a large organization”
Source: Katayama, O. (1996). Japanese business into the 21st Century: strategies for success.