Japanese Business Leadership: Business for Peace in Practice

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis empirical study draws from the extensive academic literature on leadership as a phenomenon and a topic of study, the leadership and peace nexus, and business leadership theories such as resistance leadership, system leadership, and wise and ethical leadership. It examines actual leadership through in-depth interviews of three Japanese business leaders under three themes: how they understand the existing system, connect or envision connecting people, and care for human dignity. The study finds that the leaders appraise the existing system from a broad perspective, attempt to use business to change it, and connect people transnationally. In this process, they illustrate care for the dignity of the people involved. Their vision of transforming their businesses into transnational communities across stakeholders and to change the world for the better can be a model for peacebuilding through business. We also posit that the flexibility and speediness of business leaders’ decision-making and actions are advantageous for peace leadership and that businesses have the potential to engage in peacebuilding sustainably.本実証研究は, 現象としてまた研究課題としてのリーダーシップ, リーダーシップと平和の関係, ビジネス・リーダーシップの諸理論 (レジスタンス・リーダーシップ, システム・リーダーシップ, 賢明かつ倫理的なリーダーシップなど) に関する幅広い学術研究に依拠しながら, 3人の日本人ビジネス―・リーダーへのインタビューを通じてリーダーシップの実態を分析するものである。インタビュー調査では, 既存のシステムをどのように理解しているか, 人と人を繋いでいるまたは繋ぐことを目指しているか, 人の尊厳を守ろうとしているか, という3つのテーマを設定した。3人のリーダーは, 既存のシステムを幅広い視野から評価し, それを変化させるためにビジネスを用いようとし, また国境を越えて人々を繋いでいることが明らかになった。さらにその活動過程で関係する人々の尊厳を守ろうとしていることも示された。諸ステークホルダーを巻き込み, ビジネスを越境するコミュニティに変化させることでより良い世界をつくるというビジョンは, ビジネスを通じた平和構築のモデルとなり得る。本研究はまた, ビジネス・リーダーの意思決定における柔軟性と迅速性が平和のリーダーシップに関する強みとなること, そしてビジネスには持続的に平和構築に関わる潜在性があることを論じる。KEYWORDS: Business for Peacepeace leadershipcommunity buildingJapanBangladeshIndonesiaMyanmarthe PhilippinesSri Lanka AcknowledgementsThe authors are grateful for valuable comments on an earlier version of this manuscript by two anonymous reviewers. We also appreciate comments by Dr Jacqueline Jessica Tay, research assistance by P.D. Shashika Jeevanie and Taufik Hidayah, and editing support by Dr John Lee Candelaria.Ethical ApprovalThis study was approved by the Ethics Review Board, Graduate School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan (HR-LPES-000385).Disclosure StatementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.Notes1. Interview, 28 April 2016, Main Office of H.I.S. Co. Ltd., Tokyo. He was then Director Senior Advisor.2. For examples of tourism’s positive and negative effects on communities, see Li (Citation2002).3. Interview, 29 April 2016, Main Office of Motherhouse, Tokyo; online interview, 7 October 2022.4. Online interview, Mr Takayuki Otsuki, Manager of D&O International, 20 October 2022.5. Company information in Japanese provided by the interviewee; on file with one of the authors.6. Interview, 30 January 2017, Main Office of Dari K, Kyoto; online interview, 3 October 2022.7. Interview, 30 January 2017, Main Office of Dari K, Kyoto.8. The ARMM was replaced by Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao when the Bangsamoro Organic law entered into force.9. Online interview, 20 October 2022.10. Online interview, 7 October 2022.11. See also the concept of creating ‘transnational spaces’ (Faist, quoted in Yeoh et al., Citation2004, 7).12. Online interview, 20 October 2022.Additional informationFundingThis research was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP19K01526.