Work Integration Social Enterprises for People with Disabilities in Japan

Abstract This paper is divided into two interrelated sections. The first part provides a historical analysis of three relevant policy regimes and discusses how these have affected the emergence and development of Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs) in Japan. The second part of the paper draws on the findings of a qualitative study of 18 WISEs to identify and characterize different models of WISEs in Japan. Three major dimensions were observed: i) social goal of the organizations; ii) organizational strategies; iii) governance structure. This paper should be viewed as a first attempt to build knowledge about emerging, or already well-established, social enterprise models in Japan. This, in turn, could foster international comparative analysis between Japan and other developed countries.