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William (“Bill”) De Friez and Veronica (“Ronni”) McCarthy own and operate Raconteur Film and Television Productions located in downtown Christchurch. Bill serves as part-time director; his full-time position is faculty lecturer in the Film Department of the University of Canterbury. Ronni is the full-time producer for their small business operation that completes an average of three documentaries per year as well as a network children℉s series and other special projects. She won the prestigious Winston Churchill Fellowship in 1995 to study children℉s television outside of New Zealand.

This study aims to understand the mechanisms driving individuals to utilise and engage in edu-business and contribute to the industry’s development, even when they face criticism. To that end, this paper, focussing on corporate stories, explores the cultural strategies education companies employ to expand their businesses overseas.

This paper examines the case study of Kumon Institute of Education, a key player in the Japanese edu-business sector. The analysis is based on interviews conducted between 2019 and 2021 with four public relations officers who possess extensive knowledge of the company’s history. Additionally, it draws on government and company documents, as well as newspaper articles. The analysis focusses on the narrative isomorphism between the company and the government from the provider’s perspective.

Kumon’s corporate stories and narratives have been shaped by the history, culture and policies of Japan, its country of origin, rather than adopting a bottom-up approach or embracing neoliberal values. As the company expanded its international reach, its Japanese identity became a cornerstone of its narrative, heightening the appeal of its stories through the use of expert discourse and historic cultural resources. Recently, a synergy has developed between the public and private sectors in the realm of education export, reinforcing the distinctly Japanese nature of the company, which is particularly appealing to both users and employees.

This paper focusses on the edu-business itself, analysing cultural strategies that go beyond the functional aspects of management or services to understand how edu-businesses have attracted people.

Businesses use both classroom and facilitation forms of leadership development. In this article I describe over 20 leadership-development methods, placing them in either of two categories, classroom or facilitation. I then provide the results of a quick survey of leadership development companies on the Internet, over 200 in all, about which group of methods they used most commonly. Results suggest that facilitation, of both groups and individuals (in the form of coaching), is more common than might be expected and as suggested in research by others.

Japan is home to a relatively conservative and group-oriented culture in which social expectations can exert powerful pressure to conform to traditional patterns of behaviour. This includes gender norms, which have long been based around the common stereotypes of men as breadwinners and women as housewives. Social liberalisation and economic change in the late 20th century saw these patterns change as more women entered the workforce and, despite Japan's dismal standing in global equality rankings, began to make inroads into some positions of political and corporate leadership. Yet, the way in which women are treated by men is shaped not only by female gender norms but also by the social factors that determine male patterns of behaviour. This chapter considers how Japan's male gender norms, particularly the focus on man as economic labourers rather than active members of the family unit, have damaged many men's ability to connect, on an emotional level, with the women in their lives. It looks at the issue of misogyny; what is known as the Lolita Complex; the growing trend of herbivore men; and the concept of Ikumen, men who are active within the family. While some of these patterns of behaviour can be harmful – for women on the individual level, and for Japan as a whole, on the social level – there are some trends which suggest that gender norms in Japan can be directed in a manner which will allow for much healthier emotional relationships to develop between the genders in a manner that will help build a society that is more cognisant of and attentive to the needs of women.