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Network Report

The 1st Freelance Network meeting was held virtually

Freelance Network #Network #Freelance Network #Yasutomi Kitahara #Freelance

The first Freelance Network was held virtually. Hosted by Professor Kitahara, many MBA graduates and current students from Tokyo, Osaka, and Nagoya gathered to discuss how freelancers can expand their activities in the face of current demands for self-restraint. The first session was held with Mr. Ryuta Nakamura, a multi-talented freelancer who works as the general manager of Cybozu, a software development company, and also started his own business, Collabo Works, and runs his own farming business. He mentioned that engagement in each business can go up or down, which is a concern when doing side jobs. Based on his own experience over the years, he said that if the engagement of the main business goes down, it is necessary to quit the side job altogether.

In Japan, the number of freelancers has been increasing year by year, and now there are more than 10 million freelancers, and the economic scale is said to be 20 trillion yen, with 8 trillion yen in side jobs. There are many freelancers who are facing an economic crisis as all industries are being asked to close or refrain from work. However, freelancers can be a part of rethinking the way of working in Japan after overcoming this after-corona and with-corona. Dr. Kitahara, the organizer of this Network, also said, "I want you to think of what is happening now as LOC (Locus of Control) and not as bad luck, and I want you to think that you are responsible for the outcome of everything. From now on, I will deepen my research on the use of freelancers based on these words."


About the Freelance Network


The Freelance Network will conduct research on the actual situation of freelance work, design a system for freelancing while working for a company, and solve problems faced by freelancers through research and study, information sharing, implementation of problem solving, and networking. It is a place for the study of freelance networks, research and practical activities contributing to companies and society.

Profile of Professor Yasutomi Kitahara

Dean Kitahara graduated from the Department of Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Science, Tokyo University of Science, and completed the doctoral program at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University. After working as a system engineer and management consultant for computer manufacturers in Japan and the U.S., he established the IT venture Nihon Integrate Co. Since its establishment, the company has been engaged in research and development of theory and software, as well as education and consulting in the two areas of group communication and strategic decision making. The groupware "Web Hello," which he developed, was the first business software to win the Good Design Award. In the area of strategic decision making, he is involved in the valuation and simulation of business value and risk for new businesses and development projects. At the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, he developed software for learning and supporting the venture strategy formulation methodology (DDP) developed by Professor McMillan. He has been a lecturer at the Waseda University Business School Evening Course since 1998, and has also been a part-time lecturer at the Waseda University Graduate School of Commerce (since 2009), the Tokyo University of Science Graduate School of Innovation Studies (2011), and the Tokyo Institute of Technology Graduate School of Bioscience and Biotechnology (since 2009). He also has extensive corporate training experience in the areas of business valuation, strategic decision making, innovation and creativity, and teamwork. In addition, he has been studying the effects of visual manipulation using dynamic financial models on the quality of decision making in business planning at the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University.