Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019ISSN 2189-9592

The role of collaboration in developing agriculturalcompetitiveness and welfare
Masatoshi Kosugi
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hirosaki University
Japan Accounting Association
E-mail: kosugi@hirosaki-u.ac.jp
Keikichi Kato
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Hirosaki University
Japan Accounting Association
E-mail: katok@hirosaki-u.ac.jp
Abstract
Given its high cost, producing and supplying organically grown and naturally cultivatedcrops is considered a challenge in Japan. The vegetables that Yamanobu-Shouten Co., Ltd.
sells through its food retailing business Supermarket Yamanobu and its affiliated restaurants
are produced by an affiliated agricultural production corporation, Midori-no-Sato. As a resultof collaboration between agriculture and welfare (CAW), Midori-no-Sato has successfully
achieved low costs while adopting a natural farming method.
The CAW process began by matching the goals of the agricultural corporation, which
required farm laborers, with those of a welfare organization looking to rehabilitate mentallydisabled people. During the process of setting up the CAW, the two sides built a smooth
relationship and launched the partnership under a community concept. With this, theagricultural corporation could manage its mentally disabled workers. Therefore, the CAW has
increased the value of the community's internal resources, enabling it to increase productionand expand sales channels. We also analyzed the concept of management control system as
proposed by Merchant and Van der Stede (2012). Furthermore, this study showed that thesuccess factors of social collaboration, as pointed out in previous studies, are included in CAW.
Keywords
Collaboration, Management Control System, Cost Reduction, Agriculture, Welfare(1) Introduction
Since the announcement that Tokyo
will host the 2020 Olympic Games, there
has been increasing attention in Japan onorganic farming practices and agribusinesses related to this approach, tocater to the specific needs of players, whoare expected to arrive in large numbers as
a result of the Games attention in Japanhas
focusedonfarming
without
agriculturalchemicals,
andonagribusinesses related to this approach.
The health consciousness of local
consumers has also been growing,
increasing the demand for agricultural
products grown using only organic

pesticides. However, farming withoutchemical fertilizers places a heavy burden
on agricultural workers, since work that
previously relied on chemical spraying
using farm equipment is generally carriedout manually.
Organically cultivated products areoften labeled as “organic” in retail stores
and are considered to have been producedwith a farming method that does not use
chemicals; for example, only organic
fertilizer is used to cultivate organic
produce (Table 1). However, “naturally
cultivated farming” does not have anationallyaccepteddefinitionorestablishedstandards
likeorganic

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Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019ISSN 2189-9592

cultivation does. Generally, natural
cultivation is considered a generic term for
agricultural crop cultivation methods thatuse no pesticides or fertilizers. A
characteristic of both organic cultivationand natural cultivation is that the use of
agricultural chemicals and fertilizer is low,
thus increasing work complexity. In Japan,
the aging of the population in general andthe shortage of successors in agriculture
pose serious issues. This social backgroundfurther aggravates the complexities oforganic and natural cultivations.
This additional effort, in turn, affects
selling prices, and organic and natural
cultivation results in more expensive
products. According to the Ministry ofAgriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (2018),
the prices of organic products are around
1.5 times as high as the same product
grown
using
ordinary
agricultural
methods1. As for the difference in sales, nofigure is available based on a large-scale
survey in Japan, but the sales of organic
products is generally higher than those of
products grown using other methods.
Organic cultivation and natural cultivation
rely on manual farming for spraying
pesticides and fertilizers. Therefore, it is
impossible to secure manpower for these
agricultural methods unless the sales priceincreases. A system called collaboration
between agriculture and welfare (CAW)
can resolve this issue.
In this study, we focus on CAW, whichuses the community concept to bring
together agricultural corporations andwelfare organizations, as an approach thatcan potentially overcome this situation.
Our case company has succeeded in setting
up an agricultural production corporationthat sells organically grown and naturally
cultivated products to its affiliatedsupermarket business, which in turn sells
these products to customers at low prices.
We will examine the collaboration between
this company's agricultural production
corporation and welfare organizations
based on the community concept and thedeterminants of its success. In addition,
this collaboration is also affected by certain
issues that are peculiar to Japanese society.
It is necessary to consider these issues thiswithin the theoretical framework of social
collaboration.

1 Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries

purpose of solving social issues.” Therefore, in thispaper, the notation "Social Collaboration" isunified.
3
Waddock (1991), Hartman and Stafford (1997),
Austin (2000), Googins and Rochlin (2000),
Wohlstetter et al. (2005)(2) Previous research
In recent years, companies have started
prioritizing their social responsibility.
Companiesuse
theirmanagement
resources to tackle various social issues
throughbusinesstypes
orsocialcontributions. According to Tanimoto et al.
(2013), to tackle social issues, companies
sometimes cooperate with other companies
and organizations in various sectors, suchas NPOs and governments, instead of
acting as a single unit.
One of these business types is called“social collaboration 2 ,” wherein multiple
organizations work together to addresssocial issues3. According to Seitanidi (2008),
social collaboration involves the selectionof partner organizations and mobilizationof resources. In the “formation stage” ofcollaboration,abusinessplan
is(2018), p.3.
2
In previous studies, there are expressions such as“Social Partnership” in addition to “Social
Collaboration.” All of these are common in termsof “cooperation by multiple organizations for the16

Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019

formulated and the business is promoted tofacilitate smooth collaboration withpartner organizations. The “execution
stage” consists of several stages forbuilding a simple relationship. Regarding
the success factors of social collaboration,
the literature has proposed the following
points 4.
•

•

•

•

In the formation of collaboration, it isimportant to select partners who sharethe mission of resolving social issues
and to secure the resources necessary
for the realization of the business, inaddition to matching with the
management resources of the company.
In the planning stage—which is theformation stage of collaboration—organizations must achieve both“objective proximity” and “means
necessity” for smooth collaboration.
“Objective proximity” means the
purpose of the project is important foreach participating entity. “Means
necessity” implies that cooperation
among organizations is a means
necessary for business execution.
Given that organizations differ in scaleand culture, it is necessary to build a

ISSN 2189-9592

trusting relationship through close
communication among members at theexecution stage of collaboration.
In the execution stage, it is also
necessary to prevent the problem of thepartnerorganization
not
fully
contributing to the business. Therefore,
rules must be formulated for managing
collaborative relationships and abusiness
reportingmechanism
established to clarify accountability
from each other.

In light of the above, research on
management strategies is important tolead social collaboration to success.
However, previous research has rarely
examined the development process ofcollaborative relationships 5 ; rather, thefocus was on either the formation stage or
the execution stage as the success factor ofsocial collaboration6. Thus, it is clear that
there is a need to investigate the successfactors of both the formation and execution
stages of collaboration, in general, and to
examineeach
stage
throughacomprehensive and detailed case study, inparticular. To fill this gap, this study sets
the following two research questions.

4

5 Seitanidi (2008), Yokoyama (2017), Hartman andSeitanidi (2008), Reinand Stott (2009), Berger etal. (2010), Yokoyama (2017), Hartman and
Dhanda (2018)

Dhanda (2018).
6 Okura (2017), Hartman and Dhanda (2018).

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Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019a) What should companies do in theformation stage of social collaboration?
b) In the execution stage, how canorganizations with different scales andcultures establish a smooth collaborative
relationship?

ISSN 2189-9592

connected
tohis/her
community.
Additionally, the company actively donates
to local educational organizations7.
The company's brand that has fulfilled
its philosophy is "Gonbei-no-Sato," whichprimarily procures from its directly
managed farm and major supplier, Midorino-Sato. The farm cultivates agricultural
crops, mainly using organic cultivation andnatural cultivation farming methods andsells or supplies food to group restaurants.
All products are composed of agricultural
crops of organic and natural cultivation. It
is necessary to clear the private brand’s
own examination criteria. Additionally, thebrand’s staff has "Junior Vegetable & Fruit
Meister" qualifications 8 and provides
information to customers at the time ofcustomer service. Initially, this private
brand was purchasing and selling
agricultural crops by sourcing high quality
crops that met the expectations of external
suppliers and vendors. However, they now
have their own farms. Most major
agricultural crops are supplied from theirown farm, “Midori-no-sato.”
Their own brand, “Gonbei-no-Sato,”
produces organic vegetables throughnatural cultivation, and, as shown in
Figure 3, sales have grown significantly in(3) Overview of our Case Company
Yamanobu-Shouten Co., Ltd. operates
seven supermarkets in the Aichi
Prefecture, an agricultural production
corporation“Midori-no-Sato,”four
restaurant groups, high-end food shops,
and mobile dealers (Figure 1). Establishedin 1955, its head office is located in Toyota
City, Aichi Prefecture. The company’s goal
is to achieve organizational managementthat contributes to the local community. Its
company philosophy is “freshness andsafety of products.”
Yamanobu-Shouten has succeeded inrealizing CAW with the help of Midori-noSato and in branding and selling products
at its supermarkets—its main business.
The company has the following features.
It focuses on its regional contribution,
which is influenced by the founder'sphilosophy. The founder continued to work
after
retirement,interacting
withcustomers on the sales floor to stay

7 Donation activity as a part of regional(Source: author, based on survey results)
8 It is the private accreditation given by the Japan

contribution: Donation totaling 786,600 yen to
local parent-teacher association groups (The 28th
result; from November 21, 2018 to May 20, 2019)

Vegetable Sommelier Association.

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Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019

recent years. The reason is that the pricesof the organic and natural products of thebrand are lower than the prices of generalproducts. Their price is generally set at
1.2–1.3 times the price of general products,
which is much lower than the country’s
average price difference of 1.5 times (seeSection 1). This is because the company
does not have operate in large metropolitan
areas such as Tokyo and Osaka; therefore,
organic crops can be sold only at prices
lower than their average price in Japan.
The company farm "Midori-no-Sato"
has successfully realized such a sales price.
“Midori-no-sato” produces naturally growncrops to be provided to "Gonbei-no-Sato,"
the main brand of the group. It wasestablished in 2008, with five employees,
including Mr. Shingo Nonaka, the farm
director. Their major crops are rice andstrawberries and other crops areblueberries and vegetables. The biggest
feature is that they cultivate all the crops
by natural cultivation. As mentioned above,natural cultivation is extremely difficult tocommercialize due to labor requirements
and soaring prices of sales. However, theysucceeded in commercialization. They
achieved the world's first successfulcommercialization of naturally cultivatedstrawberries without using agricultural

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chemicals and fertilizer.
This is the reason behind the strong
feelings and commitment to naturally
cultivated foods held by the founder. The
founder believes that agricultural workers,
including those involved in natural
cultivation, can create high quality
agricultural crops; but if there is no place
to sell them, there will be problems,
including failure. By having places such as
supermarkets and restaurants that
consume the products in the businessgroup, there are places to sell theagricultural crop products, making it
possible to for them to flow within thecompany (Figure 2).
The company believes that realizationof this flow has created marketing
channels for agricultural workers so thatthey can concentrate on agricultural
production. Yamanobu-Shouten Co., Ltd.
has been able to sell these products at a low
price. These lower selling prices are
attractive to customers and sales of theirown brand Gonbei-no-Sato have risen over
the years (Figure 3).
This rise in sales is the reason behindthe strong feelings and commitment
toward naturally cultivated foods held by
Shouten Co., Ltd. He made it possible for
entities using agricultural products, such

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Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019ISSN 2189-9592

as directly operated farms, dealers, andrestaurants, to be part of the group.
Mr.Toru
Yamanaka,
Chairmanof
Yamanobu- Yamanaka believes that
agricultural workers, including those
involved in natural cultivation, can createhigh-quality agricultural crops. However,if there is no place to sell them, then there
will be problems, including farm failure.
Setting up outlets, such as supermarkets
and restaurants, which consume theproducts in the business group, allows
sales of agricultural crop products,
facilitating the flow of profits within thecompany. The company believes that therealization of this flow has createdmarketing channels for agricultural
workers, ensuring their focus onagricultural production. This is one of the
management policies of YamanobuShouten Co., Ltd.; it is unlike the policy ofsetting high prices, which was witnessedfor products cultivated using traditional,
natural farming methods.
To
ensuresuccessoftheaforementioned level of crop yield. Sincechemicals are not used in natural
cultivation, securing the method, it isnecessary to realize a certain appropriate
harvest quantity through this method
becomes very difficult. However, they have
solvedthis
problemthroughthedevelopment of CAW. This was madepossible as "Midori-no-Sato" collaborated
with welfare organizations outside thegroup. In summary, "Midori-no-Sato" hassucceeded in providing farm products to its
own supermarket at a low price throughnatural cultivation, which tends to be more
expensive than general farming methods.
Therefore, we decided to conduct a casestudy on the group.

9 In our research project, we have been conducting

this paper is a case study, we kept the description
concise to avoid confusions on research topics.
10 Ohtani (2017), pp. 55-56.

(4) Research Method
Relevant actors (i.e., founders andcompanies) adopt the strategy shown in
Figure 4. CAW is effective in realizing thisstrategy. Therefore, to clarify how CAW
functions in the field, we conducted aninterview-based qualitative study byimplementing the following procedure(Figure 5).
Based on the findings, we assume that
CAW’s management strategy is based on
the Management Control System (MCS)
framework of Merchant and Van der Stede(2012). However, in a previous study on
MCS, Simons' framework was found to bemainstream9. Based on previous research,
we consider the difference between these
two frameworks as follows10:•

surveys of previous research and recording
theoretical progress in another research. Please also
refer to the discussion about the framework. Since

20

Merchant: Emphasis is placed on how
to control the behaviors of people in
all levels of the organization based on
individual objects

Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019•

Simons: Emphasis is placed on how
top managers select and use MCS tomaintain or change organizational
behavior

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ongoing. Definitions and other guidelines
have generally not yet been establishedwith CAW, but it broadly refers to thecollaboration between agricultural groups
and welfare organizations. Mr. Shingo
Nonaka of Midori-no-Sato regards it as thecreation of a community by combining
agriculture and welfare.
According to Mr. Nonaka, in the five
years the corporation has been established,it has been believed that mass productionof naturally cultivated crops is necessary
for management stability. However, as
previously noted, the natural cultivation
agriculture method creates a very heavy
burden because it does not use pesticides or
fertilizers. The company faced thesituation where expansion of agriculturalland area was essential, but there was notenough manpower. At this time, they
accidentally launched CAW through achance acquaintance with the staff of awelfare corporation company.
Initially, Mr. Nonaka offered farmwork to mildly disabled people and paid
them an hourly wage (Figure 6). This
corresponds to the formation stage of social
collaboration. While working with them,
Mr. Nonaka witnessed the power of people
with disabilities, who performed similarly
to healthy people, and realized that hecould help them. Mr. Nonaka began
working with more people with disabilities.
In addition, he began working with

We adopted Merchant's framework
because of its focus on individual objects.
Mr. Nonaka (“Midori-no-Sato”) views thedisabled persons of welfare corporations as
individual workers. He also emphasizes
how we can work with them "happily" (i.e.,they are interested in improving theirperformance).
(5) Initiatives of Midori-no-Sato: On-sitemanagement through CAW
Within Gonbei-no-Sato, one of the
main
product
categories
comprises
naturally cultivated agricultural crops
from a direct-managed farm called Midorino-Sato. To manage this cultivation,
Midori-no-Sato utilizes the collaboration
between agricultural groups and welfareorganizations that form the CAW. In thiscontext, it must be noted that Midori-noSato communities are primarily composedof patients who have mental illnesses.
Midori-no-Sato,theagricultural
production corporation, has been pursuinga mechanism for selling its products
through the CAW over the past six years.
This mechanism is based on the natural
cultivation farming law that they havebeen working on for 11 years, which is still21

Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019severely disabled people. For him, a labor
force to undertake the difficult natural
cultivation was a necessary resource.
While securing such a workforce, it waspossible to provide an agriculturalexperience to persons with mental
disabilities. Mr. Nonaka worked at theJapan International Cooperation Agency
before becoming a farmer and wishes tocontribute to resolving social issues. For
him, the advantage of collaboration with awelfare organization was that he would
have a partner who shared the mission ofsolving social issues while securing theresources necessary to realize his business.
As shown in Figure 6, the two parties canestablish a win-win relationship and help
each other fulfil their purpose, indicatingthat they experience “objective proximity.”
Moreover, the collaboration itself was a“means necessity” for both parties to
conduct business. In particular, welfareorganizations were essential to provide a
workplace experience to help rehabilitate
mentally disabled people. Thus, this casesecured the success factors of the formation
stage of social collaboration.
Mr. Nonaka then came up with theidea to compensate workers with crops
instead of money. When farmers sell crops
to provide money for people withdisabilities, the amounts that can be paid
become small because it costs more to selland develop sales channels. However, if

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you decide to sell agricultural crops using
people with disabilities, the costs can be
reduced. Of course, since the farmers
provide the crops, money is not taken fromthewelfareorganizationasanintermediate margin. As a result, disabled
people receive more money if sales go well.
This is the reason for establishing a“community.”
Mr. Nonaka realized that this systemincreased the motivation of disabled people
from welfare organizations. This seems tobe the case, because the results of theprocess of individuals cultivating their own
crops and selling them jointly with farmers
can be visibly observed.
Next, Mr. Nonaka's task was to raisemoney for people with disabilities.
Specifically, he sold nonstandard productsthat could not otherwise be sold as crops
and processed items. By further adding
value and increasing sales prices, the priceof labor for people with disabilities wasraised. Furthermore, since 2017, he hascreated a "harvesting team," with arelatively mildly disabled person in charge.
He sold agricultural crops to the group at
lower wholesale prices and delegatedharvesting and selling. This is an effort tohavewelfareassociations
handleagricultural crops in connection withwelfare organizations. By doing this, Mr.
Nonaka made mass production possible. As
a result, the CAW of the community

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Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019enabled mass production of naturally
cultivated crops, expansion of distribution
channels, and stabilization of selling prices.
His approach is not to move money, but totake advantage of people's coming,
increase production, and return that
production as agricultural products. It canalso be said that Midori-no-Sato created amanagement control system (MCS) that isvery different from the usual MCS.

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2.1 Action Controls14
Action controls are attempts tomanage actions by confining employee
actions to those that are beneficial to theorganization, or by determining the actions
that are known not to be beneficial. In mostcases, action controls are used to prevent
undesirable behavior.
3.1 Personnel Controls15
Personnel controls are intended toincrease employees' appropriate selfesteem and self-satisfaction by making
suitable personnel assignments, offering
education and training, job design, andresource provision, consequently managing
their behavior.

(6) Case analysis using the MCS
framework
In this section, we consider the CAW’s
management using the MCS framework of
Merchant and Van der Stede (2012). In
recent years, there have been active
discussions about MCSs. Previous research
has shown that they provide organizations
with sustainability and effectively fulfill
the role of supporting corporate social
responsibility (CSR) 11 . By properly
creating an MCS, employees takeappropriate actions and increase theprobability that the organization willachieve its goal12. Merchant and Van derStede (2012) list the following four types of
MCSs.

4.1 Cultural Controls16
Cultural controls are attempts tomanage the behavior of employees throughan organizational code of conduct, mutual
monitoring by employees, and influencing
each other. The organization's code of
conduct is an organizational culture.
Specifically, it is built on the traditions,norms, beliefs, values, ideologies, opinions,and actions shared by the organization.
According to Merchant and Van der Stede(2012), personnel controls and culturalcontrols are becoming more important as"soft controls."
Merchant and Van der Stede’s (2012)
categories are used to analyze Mr.
Nonaka's approach.

1.1 Results Controls13
Results controls provide employeeswith the desired degree of accomplishment
as a goal. These controls are used by those
who intend to manage behavior byproviding external compensation (such as
cash or stock) for goal accomplishment, orby satisfying internal rewards (such as atarget crime rate inside police). By giving
employees high autonomy, results controls
are indirect controls that do not focus onactions and decisions. In other words, you
may not be able to control the actions taken
to achieve the goal.
Results controls is supplemented or
replaced by the following three controls.

1.2 Analysis using the concept of Results
Controls
Midori-no-Sato has a "target," butrecognizes that the target is not a work
norm. They try to enjoy thinking about how
everything has gone so far rather thanfocusing on the aspect of completing worknorms. They appreciate that they could
evolve by more than just achieving theirgoals. They also often do not present

11 Ito (2009), Sumita (2015), Nagano (2015),

14 Ibid. (2012), pp.81, 85
15 Ibid. (2012), p.81.

Shinoda and Maruta (2017)12 Merchant and Van der Stede (2012), p. 5

16 Ibid. (2012), p.81

13 Ibid. (2012), pp.35, 40, 81.

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Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019

"targets" to people with disabilities.
Instead, they encourage them to try doing
the first job for the time being, and thenencourage them in the form of "I hope you
can do better tomorrow."
Mr. Nonaka and other officials areincluded in the workforce as appropriate,especially when the work of the disabled isunlikely to be completed, such as pot
clogging work or strawberry harvest
packing. Sometimes, they all work together
until they finish. In these circumstances,
there are cases where each goal isdetermined by the individual without
getting permission. As people withdisabilities become more willing to be able
to do more than their nature and in theirpast, they sometimes create quotas in theirhearts with the goal of exceeding past
performance. This way, as much as
possible, the spontaneity of people withdisabilities is encouraged.
As mentioned earlier, remuneration
may not only be in the form of money, butalso internal crops, such as actual farm
products and work and sales achievementsby everyone. Therefore, regarding results
controls, those that lead to an internalsense of accomplishment are considered to
be functioning effectively.
The aforementioned scenario led tothe division of labor and to the emergenceof the community concept. The thorough

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division of labor led to the clarification ofroles and the development of mutualcommunityaid(Figure7).
Thiscorresponds to the execution stage of social
collaboration. In this effort, welfareorganizations created a shift from anattitude of working alone to an attitude of“working collaboratively” (to the ablebodied farmers developed a respect toward
the self-motivation of disabled people).
This changed the consciousness of disabled
people (voluntary target setting). In
addition to the given goals, they started to
set voluntary working norms like "I want
to be able to do better than I what I did in
the past" (Staffs are not concerned nor
involved at all.)
2.2 Analysis using the concept of Action
Controls
There are rules for agricultural workat Midori-no-Sato; for example, "Do notwalk on the ridge" and "Do not harvest
strawberries that are not mature yet.” Infact, there are a lot of finer details,
depending on the work being done, that are
taught while working. Therefore, they do
not hold separate training or study groups.
If problem behavior, such as throwing
things to people, occurs, they do not ignore
it. Such instances provide teaching
opportunities, such as saying that "their
behavior is wrong" and nurturing values.

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Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019

Prioritizing actions and teaching rules asappropriate are used as action controls,
rather than behavior management andprevention policies.
The above approach shows that thefocus is on taking corrective actions
irrespective of particular roles andresponsibilities. Furthermore, from theviewpoint of persons with disabilities, it isunderstood that measures for examining
work performance are provided at the worksite (farm or workplace). This approach
reduced their sense of burden andresponsibility. In other words, they execute
farm work with little ease. These efforts
contribute to the formation of a workableenvironment for persons with disabilities.
It is also obvious that these ideas are
influenced by collaboration and thecommunity concept.

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realization of the “right place for the right
person” agenda: resolving the question ofwhich work is suitable for which person
leads to close communication with eachmember. This is one of the success factorsof the execution stage of social
collaboration.
Furthermore, as a side effect, thechange in consciousness of workers withdisabilities became clear. Disabled persons,
who used to come to welfare facilities oncea week, now come to welfare facilities everyday. Additionally, they are actively
engaged in farm work. This enhances theperformance of disabled farmers and helps
them achieve organizational objectives.
4.2 Analysis using the concept of Cultural
Controls
Midori-no-Sato is trying to ensurethat people with disabilities do "notperform meaningless work." Mr. Nonaka
said that by having disabled people do only
meaningful work, they can reflect andthink that "I was able to spend the day
contributing to the organization andsociety." They are focusing on making theirworkers are aware of their contribution
through their work. Their sense ofaccomplishment is thought to function as
the driving force of action.
Agricultural corporations’ staff havechanged not only how they work, but also
improved efficiencies within their facilities
for disabled working people. This improved
the quality of employees (strengthening
internal resources). Transitioning from aworkplace that overly focused on
improving work efficiency to a workplacethat accommodates failure and facilitatedamicable relationships enhanced the social
contribution of staff and instilled in them asense of pride.
This community concept not only
increased their productivity, but also
improved internal human resources. It
must be noted that realizing anenvironment that enhances the work
environment for mentally disabled persons
enabled the disabled to lead and contributeto the profit of the community. Through

3.2 Analysis using the concept of Personnel
Controls
As much as possible, Midori-no-Satokeeps the same person in charge of the
agricultural work, trying not to change
workers; this is very characteristic. At the
CAW site, they arrange people considering
the different talents and disadvantages of
disabled people and other workers.
However, Midori-no-Sato has not been able
to secure workers that already possess
talent at the desired level. Therefore, theyprioritize allowing individuals to adapt towork. Once they are accustomed to work,
they then focus on improving work skills.
To accomplish this, Midori-no-Sato also
requests
thecooperative
welfareorganization to consistently use the same
personnel.
As a result of personnel fixation,
professional abilities of persons withdisabilities improved, thereby improving
product quality. People with mental
disabilities who had difficulty consistently
attending the facility have improved on
self-esteem and are actively working.
Enhancing expertise contributes toward
improving the quality of agricultural crops
and the efficiency of agricultural work.
This initiative also results in the25

Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019

this process, each staff gained pride and asense of social awareness within theirorganization.
We also wish to note that thiscommunity concept is based on the divisionof labor. This division of labor isestablished by mutually acknowledging
the expertise of co-workers in eachbusiness and business process. The
division of labor not only improves
productivity, but also strengthens mutual
trust. Enhancing mutual trust accelerates
communication between members. This iscited as a success factor of the execution
stage of social collaboration.
In addition, due to the increase inproductivity, stable crops can be secured.
Therefore, it became possible to develop
sales channels, other than their own
brands. This led to the expansion of thewelfare organizations’ existing sales
channels. As a result, CAW enabled asimultaneous increase in production
volume and expansion of sales channels as
a company.
In Japan, due to changes in the
agricultural environment, local rural
farmers are especially required to devote
time to agricultural work, making it
difficult to foster management skills andcollaboration outside the organization. Oneof the reasons for this is the weakening of
the regional network. Therefore, it isnecessary to create a local community thatis the core of regional value creation. CAW
is a management system based on thecommunity concept; it also connects people
with disabilities to communities andutilizes the skills of people with disabilities.
Therefore, there is a possibility that it willstrongly influence the future developmentof the region and the Japanese society. In
that sense, this research is a subject ofagriculture and cooperation, which has notbeen studied in previous research. It is not
limited to the introduction of valuable
practical case examples in the field of
management accounting and providing
verification materials as materials for
examination and criticism. It highlights
new development to further improve the

ISSN 2189-9592

future of Japanese society, most especiallyin the discussion of regional contribution
and regional creation through farmers,social welfare, and local communities.
(7) Conclusion
A characteristic of CAW is that an
agricultural organization and a welfareorganization are working in a community
platform. They reap mutual benefits
through their collaboration at CAW. This
collaborative advantage increases thevalue of internal resources within thecommunity, considering the organizations’activities
fromthecommunity’s
perspective.
Additionally,
theseorganizations can increase production andexpand sales channels, which would
inevitably increase the power of appeal tocustomers and increase sales. Next, wefinally answer the research questions
posed in Section 2 based on our overall
analysis.
a) What should companies do in theformation stage of social collaboration?
The CAW process at YamanobuShouten began with matching the goals ofMidori-no-Sato, the group’s agricultural
corporation that required labor for working
on the farm, and those of a welfareorganization looking to rehabilitate
mentally disabled people. In other words,
at the earlier stages of CAW, laborers
worked in exchange for crops. Gradually,
farmers recognized the value that disabled
people contributed to the workforce and thecommunityandthus
createdanenvironment to accommodate them. As aresult, expertise has increased thoroughthe division of labor and maximum
employment of the community’s skillset.
By tapping individual ingenuity, theysucceeded in increasing yield through thecommunity concept. Additionally, suchmanagement policies attracted humanresources that conformed to the founder’sfocus on local contribution and food safety.
This approach facilitated an environmentthat accepted people with disabilities. In
this case, the choice of the partner

26

Journal of Japanese Management Vo.4, No.1, November 2019organization during the formation of social
collaboration was accidental. In addition,
because of the nature of rehabilitation forpeople with mental disabilities, it is notpossible to actively utilize external
resources for the purpose. Therefore,
internal resources must be strengthened at
the formation stage. It is necessary toconsider what is important for thecollaborator and to make it happen. When
CAW was functioning in our case study,
the following features were noted:• Fostering specialized skills throughcomplete division of labor• Increasing the quality of shipping
crops by improving skill andexpertise• Thinking of how to make work easier• Changing consciousness of workers
with disabilities

ISSN 2189-9592

leaders is easy. Considering these, it isnecessary to conduct research on futurebusiness expansion of companies.
Acknowledgment
A part of this paper was supported by
MEXT/JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number
19K13846.
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(Received: July 31, 2019)(Accepted: November 3, 2019)29