Interaction between individual and collective learning in an entrepreneurial setting: case study of SoftBank Academia in Japan

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study presents a theoretical model of interaction between individual and collective levels of entrepreneurial learning. We conducted a qualitative study on SoftBank Academia (SBA), an institute for human resource development to develop potential successors to Masayoshi Son, the founder of SoftBank Group in Japan. In SBA, there’s simultaneously a high level of competition and cooperation. Results suggest that the entrepreneurial learning process, which spans individual and collective levels, features elements of SoftBank Group’s business process such as ‘comradely association’ and ‘Cluster of No. 1 Strategy’.