Ryu Yangisawa

Entrepreneurship is one of the main theme in Global Business program, and AIU has ECN331 “Entrepreneurship” as a foundation course. Entrepreneurship is also covered in courses such as MBA essentials and Japanese Business Culture (ECN343). There are not many courses which apply or extend the contents of the foundational course on entrepreneurship. At the same time, there is an increasing number of students who are interested in economic or business topics in Akita prefecture. One possible application is “Community-based entrepreneurship.” Community-based entrepreneurship is a local phenomenon that encompasses profit and not-for-profit organizations, local businesses, individuals, and local community-oriented projects and networks that together or separately seek to create a sustainable and flourishing community by working with the community in solving problems and improving socio-economic value (Pierre et al. (2014) and Gurău and Dana (2018)). Community-based entrepreneurship is a relatively new concept, but there is an increasing number of researches. At the same time, there are some community efforts that invite entrepreneurs who start the business that encompasses interaction with the community in Akita prefecture. Gojome is one of such example. As an applied course on entrepreneurship, the course that covers both conceptual components on Community-based entrepreneurship and case study in Akita prefecture will be a part of the course portfolio of Business oriented courses in Global Business program. This course also facilitates interchange between the private sector in Akita prefecture and AIU students including exchange students.