Fukuoka Growth 03 Structural Shift in Service Industry

Information & Strategy Office
In severe financial conditions, many municipalities are attempting to focus on policies for the efficient and effective financial operation. What is the necessary policy for the social and economic development? Municipalities are also expected to engage in marketing. ‘Information & Strategy Office’ was set up in URC as an advisory team serving for Fukuoka City with a mission to contribute to the economic growth of Fukuoka City. In daily operation, it collects and analyzes data and information, consults to city bureaus and the general public, builds up policy options and recommends priorities to support Mayor’s decision making.
Positioning Fukuoka on the global mapUncertain times ahead - We are now living and working in the era of increasing uncertainty. In the last few decades the world has changed (and is changing today) by four key drivers; 1) internet (from 1.0 to 3.0), 2) explosion of world population, 3)advanced mobility of goods and people, and 4) energy revolution (from fossil to green). - To survive and thrive in such an era of uncertainty, the following “nine principles” have been advocated by wise leaders including Kiyoshi Kurokawa: 1) Resilience, instead of Strength, 2) Risk, instead of Safety, 3)Systems, instead of Objects, 4) Compasses, instead of Maps, 5) Pull, instead of Push, 6) Practice, instead of Theory, 7)Disobedience, instead of Compliance, 8) Crowds, instead of Experts, 9) Learning, instead of Education The rise of regional economies - Economic geography has also dramatically changed in the last few decades (and is changing today). While Thomas L. Friedman proposed “The world is flat” in 1999, Richard Florida argues that the world is not flat but rather spiky. Both seem true. - Implications from these argument are that the world economy today is a network of urban regions, as Kenichi Omae argued in his book “The End of the Nation-State: the Rise of Regional Economies” - Global talents and knowledge workers gather in urban regions (and in particular in the city centers). They become part of “ecosystem of innovation” which in turn accelerates sustainable growth of that region. As AnnaLee Saxenian pointed out, a region is a source of competitive advantage of businesses. Positioning Fukuoka - What is positioning of Fukuoka today and in the future on the global map? - “Fukuoka Growth” provides with economic outlook of Fukuoka, aiming to be a basis for policy and economic dialogue among policy makers, business leaders and the general public. It looks into Fukuoka’s strength and opportunities to help the region clearly position itself around its unique value for other regions in the world. - We look forward to feedback from readers. June 20, 2013 Taichi GOTO Head of Information and Strategy Office Fukuoka Asian Urban Research Center
Fukuoka Growth Data is the basis for planning. No hypothesis or forecast can be established without logical grounds based on data analysis. Data is related to various fields. To collect and analyze data is an important task. In natural science, accumulated experimental data leads to new discoveries and evolution. In business or policy making, a variety of data supports to build next strategies. Data indicates “fact” at a certain point in time from a certain point of view. In order to plan for the future of Fukuoka, it is important to analyze data from a variety of points of view and to prepare a more certain path for growth. There is a variety set of data indicating the growth potential of Fukuoka city. A series of reports “Fukuoka Growth” is going to be released twice a month. In each issue it will diagnose and discuss the future of Fukuoka city and people by analyzing data relevant to a selected theme. We hope this series of reports will be informative for those who are considering to live, study, work, invest, and start a business in Fukuoka.



Fukuoka Growth 03 Structural Shift in Service Industry (31/07/2013 Version1.0)
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Data
As the population growth in Fukuoka city is nationally outstanding, the number of businesses has steadily increased. Businesses that are targeting on the increasing citizens such as retail and food services are flourishing; however, services that create higher added valuesare also increasing recently.Not only in Fukuoka city, SMEs are supporting the local economy in most cities in Japan. Besides the SMEs, many large enterprises have branch offices and branch stores in Fukuoka city, which greatly contribute to the city in terms of employment. Many enterprises recognize the advantage of having offices in Fukuoka city by its function as a regional headquarter in Kyushu as well as an operational base in Asia.

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*Click on the figures to enlarge.
Figure1. Trend of number of privately-owned businesses in Fukuoka city Figure2. Growth index of industries with growing businesses in Fukuoka city Figure3. Share of number of businesses and employees by business size with employees in Fukuoka city (2009)