Facilitators and barriers to physicians' entrepreneurial ventures in major Japanese cities: A qualitative study

PLoS One. 2021 Oct 27;16(10):e0258957. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0258957. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Background: The Japanese healthcare system currently faces numerous challenges, including a super-aging society and an excessive burden on medical workers; therefore, the need for innovative solutions from healthcare ventures to tackle these issues has increased. Meanwhile, as physicians play important roles in healthcare ventures, the need for Japanese physician entrepreneurs is more important than ever. Given the lack of research examining barriers to physicians starting ventures and what skills, knowledge, and surrounding environments act as facilitators, this study aimed to identify the facilitators and barriers faced by physicians to start ventures.

Methods: Between September and November 2019 and in May 2021, qualitative interviews were conducted with 33 participants, which included eight physician entrepreneurs; two administrative officers at the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; three faculty members at Tokyo Medical and Dental University (in-depth interviews); and 20 medical students (focus group discussions). The interviews were deductively coded based on the social ecological model. The inductive approach was applied to coding any knowledge necessary to start a business. We conducted member checking with three physician entrepreneurs and seven medical students to improve our results' credibility.

Results: The factors influencing a physician's decision to launch a new business include their willingness to contribute to society, the unique environment in which an individual is placed while in medical school and afterward, negative aspects of the lack of diversity in physicians' careers, the financial stability provided by a medical license, and self-efficacy.

Conclusions: Our study revealed facilitators and barriers to physicians' entrepreneurial ventures. Knowledge about these factors might be useful in supporting physicians to launch or become involved in healthcare ventures.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Cities
  • Commerce / methods*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Japan
  • Male
  • Physicians*
  • Private Sector / organization & administration*
  • Qualitative Research
  • Surveys and Questionnaires

Grants and funding

This study was supported by Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 20K01876 to Y.I., N.N., E.O, H.K., and Y.T.). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. In addition, Aillis, Inc. provided support in the form of salary for author HK, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The specific role of this author is articulated in the ‘author contributions’ section.