Back to Contents of Issue: July 2001
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by Kyoko Fujimoto |
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From the outside, Recruit looks like any other big Japanese corporation. Visitors to the oversized Tokyo headquarters are greeted by bowing, uniformed receptionists on several different floors, and one couldn't be blamed for assuming there's a typical, hierarchical pecking order behind the lobbies. Instead, Recruit -- known primarily as a publisher but involved in a bewildering array of other activities -- is brimming with entrepreneurship. New business divisions are constantly in bloom, and employees rotate through different departments to experience new jobs. As a result, "Recruiters" are accustomed to trying new things. (Mari Matsunaga, one of the prime movers behind i-mode, worked at Recruit.)
Shigeru Nomura, now editor in chief of Recruit's Entre magazine (tied up with Entrepreneur in the US), also loves doing new things. He joined Recruit in 1989, when the company was mired in a nationally infamous bribery scandal involving a powerful politician, because he was attracted to the entrepreneurial spirit. Nomura's first job at Recruit was in the legal department, a position made all the more interesting by the ongoing scandal. But Nomura was secretly hoping to learn all he could from the company and then become an entrepreneur -- inevitably a common ambition at Recruit. Instead, he became editor in chief of a how-to magazine helping others become entrepreneurs. Though a salaryman in a big company, Nomura has an entrepreneurial air about him, probably because he's surrounded by entrepreneurs. Associate editor Kyoko Fujimoto met with him at Recruit HQ (after innumerable friendly greetings by an army of receptionists) to talk about his background, the magazine, and entrepreneurship. Being in Recruit, I'm sure you have experienced many positions in the company. What were those? After a while, the bubble burst and the marketing cost was cut down. The marketing team was then dismissed, but the editor in chief of Gaten magazine wanted me to join the editorial team because I'd met a lot of readers through my marketing career. That was the start of my editorial life. It was just a coincidence, but since then I've always been involved in the editorial side. After a few years, in 1996, I was moved to another job- search magazine, B-ing. But then a new project, Entre, started, and I was again moved, this time to the new team, in early 1997 right before the magazine launched.
The second boom was in the early to mid-'80s, when the Japanese economy was at its peak. There was some change in the Jasdaq, and some famous VCs like Softbank and H.I.S. were established around that time. But after a while, many companies that were thought to be attractive to venture capitalists crashed, and the boom went away. The third boom came around in the mid-'90s, when business use of the Internet had just started in Japan. When new technology arises from a new source, it means that traditional companies or big corporations aren't necessarily strong in that area and there are equal chances for startups. HyperNet is a prime example of the venture companies that were established at that time. In Recruit, there are many people, including myself, who are very susceptible to words like "startup" or "entrepreneur," so it was natural for us to catch that boom. The Entrepreneurship Promotion Division was established, and the magazine Entre -- to support entrepreneurs -- was born. Changing jobs was not so common in Japan some time ago. But Recruit published several magazines for changing jobs, promoted Japanese companies to hire people who are not new grads, and established that market. The phrase "lifetime employment" is becoming obsolete; many young people now don't think they'll stay in one company forever. Entre goes one step further. When people think about leaving the company, we want them to think about starting their own business as another choice. We try to provide information on that field, and hope to promote entrepreneurship. Entre has a special section for women entrepreneurs. Do you see any special characteristics in them? What do you think about entrepreneurship in Japan? Hasn't the image of entrepreneurs changed? Speaking of big corporations, there has been a phenomenon in which many salarymen working in big corporations went to work for venture companies last year, and now there is another phenomenon in which they are moving back. Since you've become knowledgeable about business startups and entrepreneurs, don't you want to become one? |
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