ABSTRACT
The great economist Schumpeter once said that innovation arising from the original ideas of entrepreneurs will result in rapid economic growth. A problem in Japan today is that the number of entrepreneurs appears to be declining. Top positions are increasingly filled by the promotion of ordinary managers who happen to be effective administrators. This leaves me in no doubt that the future will be dim, even for businesses enjoying strong balance sheets now. Has Japan already become a country that cannot produce true entrepreneurs? Will large corporations, saddled with ossified pyramid structures, never again become the bearers of innovation? To make matters worse, even small- and medium-sized enterprises do not seem to produce leaders any more.
