To make Japan a society where challenges are praised.

Snowflake Consulting LLC (Location: Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, Representative: Masahiro Nakajima) is participating in "April Dream" advocated by PR TIMES Co., Ltd., and is sending out the dream of "making Japan a society where challenges are praised."

What we are concerned about is not that there are few people who challenge in Japan. Challenges are there. But is the culture where that first step is naturally praised, supported, and leads to the next challenge not yet sufficient? — That is our question.

Why now, "a society where challenges are praised"? — Data shows Japan's current position

① Level of early-stage entrepreneurial activity (TEA) — Japan is the lowest in G7, less than half the global average

"Total Early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity (TEA)" indicates how many people per 100 adult population are engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activity. It is the most central indicator for measuring the vibrancy of entrepreneurial activity in a country or region in the global entrepreneurship survey "Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (hereinafter: "GEM")".

Japan

6.1%

Global Average

14.1%

Source: GEM 2023 Survey (commissioned by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) / TEA = proportion of early-stage entrepreneurs in the adult population

💡 The US is more than twice Japan's (approx. 13%), and Canada is more than three times. However, the proportion of people who are "interested in entrepreneurship" and actually take action is almost the same in Japan and the US (SME White Paper).

② Indifferent to entrepreneurship — 77% in Japan, a difference of about 40 points from other major countries

The GEM survey also investigated interest in entrepreneurship. It was found that the proportion of people in Japan who are not interested in entrepreneurship is higher compared to other major countries.

Japan

77.3%

Major Countries Average

Approx. 37%

Source: National Institute of Science and Technology Policy "Science and Technology Indicators 2017" / Compiled based on GEM survey

💡 The proportion of people who answered "no" to all three indicators: entrepreneurial activity penetration, business opportunity recognition, and knowledge/ability/experience. This figure indicates that a culture where people feel they "can challenge" has not yet developed.

③ Children's "ability to challenge" — 59.2% desire, 26.1% feel they have acquired it

Desire to acquire

59.2%

Feel acquired

26.1%

Source: Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology "National Survey of Academic Ability and Learning Status" Student Questionnaire Survey

💡 The difference between desire and actual feeling is 33 points. There is a desire to challenge. But experiences where one feels "I did it" do not accumulate. This gap is directly connected to the adult society's "culture that does not praise challenges."

However, what is important here is not to read these numbers with resignation, thinking "Japanese people don't challenge." Rather, it's the opposite. According to GEM analysis, the proportion of people who are "interested in entrepreneurship" and actually take action is almost the same in Japan and the US. The problem is not the willingness to act, but the cultural soil that fosters the desire to challenge. "There are people who want to challenge. But a culture that praises them has not developed." Isn't this the current situation in Japan?

As a philosophy for solution — What is Effectuation?

What we are focusing on is "Effectuation," a way of thinking born from the fields of behavioral science and management. This theory, discovered by Professor Saras Sarasvathy of the University of Virginia while researching the decision-making of expert entrepreneurs, is based on the logic of "starting with existing resources and creating the future through interactions with people and serendipity," rather than "controlling the future with correct predictions."

In an increasingly uncertain modern world, the concept of Effectuation is not just for entrepreneurs. It is a philosophy that reaches everyone who seeks to challenge — children engaged in inquiry-based learning, employees tackling new business improvements, business people facing cultural barriers on overseas assignments.

5 Principles of Effectuation

Main Content

Bird in Hand

Start with what you have (knowledge, network, experience) rather than a perfect plan

Affordable Loss

Act based on "how much can I afford to lose?" rather than the probability of success

Crazy Quilt

Collaborate with people who empathize, and co-create the future without fixing the plan

Lemonade

Don't close off unexpected events as failures, but leverage them as new opportunities

Pilot in the Plane

Create the future through your own actions, rather than predicting it

In this project, we further emphasize two concepts: Aspiration (the desire to create a certain future) and Ask (the act of not keeping that desire internal, but asking society and recruiting allies). This April Dream itself is a practice of these two.

Making Effectuation a "common language in society" — 3 Concepts

We believe that by extending Effectuation beyond being merely a "theory for entrepreneurs" and bridging it across three completely different domains — history, education, and cross-cultural experiences — we can connect the vision of "a society where challenges are praised" to concrete initiatives.

Project 1｜Re-reading history from the perspective of challenge — History and Communication Project through Effectuation —

Historical figures did not foresee the future from the beginning. They were people who started with what they had in uncertain situations, involved others, and forged their paths by making serendipity their ally. When we re-read history not as "the predictive power of winners" but as "a step in uncertainty," Effectuation can become a new perspective for history education.

[Expected Outputs] Books, serializations on Note and web media, history-themed seminars/book clubs, supplementary readers for social education

[Recruiting Allies] History researchers, editors/publishers, educators, history content creators

Project 2｜Delivering words that encourage challenges in inquiry-based learning — Effectuation × Inquiry-based Learning Practice Support Project —

Children's inquiry-based learning inherently contains the essence of challenge: "posing questions," "experimenting," and "interacting with people." However, many voices from the field say, "I don't know what to make them do" or "I tend to lean towards the correct answer." We will develop simple questioning patterns that teachers and supporters can use, creating tools that transform inquiry from a "search for correct answers" to a "process of challenge."

[Expected Outputs] Teacher's guide for prompting, inquiry-based learning support workshops, teaching materials, worksheets, demonstration in research lessons

[Recruiting Allies] Teachers from elementary, junior high, high schools, and universities, practitioners of inquiry-based learning, boards of education, free schools/alternative education stakeholders, teaching material developers

Project 3｜Supporting those who challenge in uncertain environments — Effectuation Practice Program for Overseas Assignments and Cross-border Talent —

In overseas assignments, new businesses, and cross-cultural environments, situations often arise where assumptions that worked in Japan break down.