Transferability of agri business model from japan to vietnam a comparative management approach to the cases of japanese moku moku farm and vineco tam dao farm

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI PHUONG TRANSFERABILITY OF AGRI-BUSINESS MODEL FROM JAPAN TO VIETNAM: A COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO THE C

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI PHUONG

TRANSFERABILITY OF AGRI-BUSINESS MODEL FROM JAPAN TO VIETNAM:

A COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO THE CASES OF JAPANESE MOKU MOKU FARM AND

VINECO TAM DAO FARM

MASTER’S THESIS BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

Ha Noi, 2018

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HA NOI

VIETNAM JAPAN UNIVERSITY

NGUYEN THI PHUONG

TRANSFERABILITY OF AGRI-BUSINESS MODEL FROM JAPAN TO VIETNAM:

A COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO THE CASES OF

JAPANESE MOKU MOKU FARM AND

VINECO TAM DAO FARM

MAJOR: BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First of all, I would like to express my attitude towards the Vietnam Japan University and lecturers of Master program of Business Administration, who are always enthusiastic and supportive during our course in order to give me and my classmates the most favorable environment for studying so that we could be qualified in term of knowledge and skills to carry out this thesis

Especially, I would like to send my deepest thanks to my two beloved supervisors: Doctor Mai Anh and Associate Professor Kodo Yokozawa They are the two most important factors influencing my thesis I could not forget how patience Ass Prof Kodo Yokozawa have given to me since the first day of forming the thesis idea with

an empty head of how to do a proper thesis He is also the one who spent much time

to listen to my ideas and instructed me in each step of my research My precious words come to Doctor Mai Anh He is the one who pulls me back when I felt like losing the way of doing my thesis He is the one who is always available to me any time I need help To be honest, I cannot find any more precious words to express

my sincere appreciation to my two supervisors Thanks to the enthusiasm and dedication of my supervisors, my thesis has come to reality

I would like to send my love to all classmates in class first-intake MBA class of VJU who are my good friends and always ready to help me and contribute their ideas for my thesis

Finally, I would like to thank all people who wholeheartedly assisted me in passed time

Student

Nguyen Thi Phuong

NON- PLAGIARY COMMITMENT

I confirm that all contents of this thesis are individually carried out by me; the data

is collected and researched through many different sources such as: direct interview with experienced specialists, managers and customers; secondary data on the books, newspapers, Internet, website, statistic agencies, financial statements and internal documents of Moku Moku Group and Vineco and Vingroup JSC All strategies and solutions are drawn by me during my theoretical and practical research of the operation reality of the Company

Hanoi, June 2018

Nguyen Thi Phuong

TABLE OF CONTENT

INTRODUCTION 1

1 Research rationale 1

2 Research objectives and questions 4

3 Research subject and scopes 5

4 Research approach 5

5 Structure of the thesis 5

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

1.1 Concepts of agricultural tourism (hereby called as agri-tourism) 7

1.2 Factors influencing the agri-tourism business 9

1.3 Theoretical background of management approach 10

1.4 Comparative management model toward the transferability of a business model from a context to the other 12

1.5 The development of research framework 16

1.5.1 Adapted from Harod Koonzt comparative management model 16

1.5.2 Adjusting influencing factors in the framework 16

1.5.3 Research Framework 17

1.5.4 Measurements of influencing factors 18

1.6 Chapter conclusion 20

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 21

2.1 Methods of the research 21

2.1.1 Case study method 21

2.1.2 Observation method 21

2.1.3 Archival research 21

2.1.4 Open in-depth interview 22

2.2 Data collection 22

2.3 Data Analysis 25

2.4 Questionnaire development 26

2.4.1 Questionnaire for experts and Vineco managers of sales and marketing 26 2.4.2 Questionnaire for potential customer 28

2.5 Chapter‟s conclusion 28

CHAPTER 3: ANALYSIS OF AGRI-BUSINESS MODEL OF MOKU MOKU

FARM 29

3.1 Introduction of Moku Moku Farm 29

3.1.1 Agricultural and food production 30

3.1.2 Agri-tourism business 31

3.1.3 The business chart of Moku Moku farm 33

3.2 Factors influencing the development of the Moku Moku farm business model 34

3.2.1 Macro environment factors 34

3.2.2 Micro environment factors 42

3.2.3 Internal environment factors of Moku Moku Farm 49

3.3 Chapter conclusion 55

CHAPTER 4: ANALYSIS OF FACTORS INFLUENCING THE BUSINESS OF VINECO TAM DAO FARM 56

4.1 Introduction of Vineco Tam Dao Farm 56

4.1.1 Introduction of Vingroup 56

4.1.2 Introduction of Vineco 59

4.1.3 Introduction of Vineco Tam Dao Farm 60

4.2 Factors influencing the development of Vineco Tam Dao Farm 60

4.2.1 Macro environment factors 60

4.2.2 Micro environment factors 69

4.2.3 Internal business environment factors of Moku Moku Farm 74

4.3 Chapter conclusion 79

CHAPTER 5: RESULTS OF COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF FACTORS BETWEEN MOKU MOKU FARM AND VINECO TAM DAO FARM 81

5.1 Percentage of ratio of the factors and scoring principles 81

5.1.1 Percentage of ratio 81

5.1.2 Scoring principles 81

5.2 Table of comparative analysis results 83

5.3 Chapter conclusion 95

CHAPTER 6: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 97

6.1 Discussion on the transferability of agri-business model from Moku Moku farm to Vineco Tam Dao Farm 97

6.1.1 Similarities between two farms 97

6.1.2 Differences between two farms 98

6.1.3 Discussion on transferability of agri-business model from Moku Moku Farm to Vineco Tam Dao Farm 99

6.1.4 Managerial lessons for Vineco Tam Dao Farm 100

6.2 Contribution 100

6.2.1 Theoretical contribution 100

6.2.2 Practical contribution 101

6.3 Limitation and future study 103

6.3.1 Limitation 103

6.3.2 Further study 104

6.4 Conclusion 104

REFERENCES 1

APPENDIX 4

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1.1: measurement indicators of influencing factors 19

Table 2.1: List of experts 24

Table 2.2: List of potential customers of Vineco 25

Table 2.3: Lists of open-ended in-depth interview questions for experts 26

Table 4.1: The population figures of Vietnam in 2016 64

Table 4.2: Number workers in the agriculture industry in Vietnam, 2013 – 2016 69

Table 5.1: Comparative analysis results of the influencing factors between Moku Moku farm and Vineco Tam Dao Farm 83

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Richard N Farmer & Barry M Richman, 1964 A Model for Research in

Comparative Management 14

Figure 1.2: Harold Koonzt, 1969 Comparative management model 15

Figure 1.3: A R Negandhi and S B Prasad, 1971 Comparative Management model 15 Figure 1.4: Research Framework 18

Figure 3.1: Map of Moku Moku Farm 32

Figure 3.2: The organizational chart of Moku Moku farm [] 34

Figure 3.3: The Political stability of Japan from 2010-2016 35

Figure 3.4: GDP per capital, PPP of Japan from 2010-2016 [] 36

Figure 3.5: Inflation rate of Japan from 2010-2016 37

Figure 3.6: Japan Rule of Law index, from 2010-2016 39

Figure 4.1: Political stability of Vietnam in 2010-2016 (Source: World Bank, 2018) 61

Figure 4.2: Vietnam – Economic (GDP growth, percentage) 62

Figure 4.3: Vietnam – GDP in current U.S dollars 62

Figure 4.4: Inflation forecast of Vietnam, from 2010-2016 63

Figure 4.5: Vietnam Internet Subscribers from 2010-2016 65

Figure 4.6: Vietnam – Rule of law from 2010-2016 66

ABSTRACT

This study uses the qualitative methodology in collecting and analyzing data with secondary data from the document and previous papers, primary data from the field trip as well as the in-depth interview with experts and potential customers to measure the market potential In this paper, a review of the previous studies in the field of Agri-tourism will be made to figure out the factors influencing the agri-tourism business Based on these factors, a comparative management model will be used to create a suitable research framework to compare the conditional factors affecting the establishment and development of the agri-tourism business between Moku Moku farm in Japan and Vineco Tam Dao farm in Vietnam After comparing, the similarity between the conditional factors of both farm will be stated With a high level of similarity of about 90.3%, it could be assumed that the successful percentage of the transferability of this business model from Moku Moku farm to Vineco farm is feasible and transferable

INTRODUCTION

1 Research rationale

In Vietnam, along with the high demand of safe foods for healthy lives, the citizen

is in an emergent desire to have a comfortable space in the countryside, where provides good foods, fresh and peaceful air, relaxing activities and services, and of course, out of the noisy and stressful life In big cities, going out of city in the weekend is becoming a hot trend of the young people and small families A tourist spot which is not too far from the city, combined with experiencing, traveling and learning new knowledge and skills seems an ideal place for this demand Furthermore, with creating a great tourism spot, a business model of farming, tourism and agricultural education with useful agricultural experience will help the citizen, especially the children and students to feel closer and more interesting about agriculture This enhances children's understanding of agriculture, biology, and food, nourishes their spiritual life and teaches them to appreciate the values of the safe food industry and agricultural sustainable development– what Vietnam is currently

in dire need

The context of Vietnam’s agri-tourism

For developing countries like Vietnam today, the development of agricultural and rural tourism plays an important role in restoring and promoting local economic development, contributing to the reduction of hunger, reducing the development gap between urban and rural areas (Huyen, 2012) Having a favorable natural conditions, the terrain is diversified from the North to the South and with big deltas, Vietnam has the potential to diversify its agricultural sector By this time, there are more than 40% of Vietnamese labor force working in the agricultural sector (General statistics office of Viet Nam, 2016) With the rate of nearly 40% of the population are dependent on agriculture, the sustainable development of agriculture and rural areas has become a pressing requirement to increase the value of agricultural production

In this context, the development of tourism associated with rural areas and agricultural production in which tourism services are of interest of Vietnam In

Vietnam, there are tourist products characterized by agricultural culture in the regions stretching from the north to the south, which have been formed, attracting both domestic and foreign tourists There are some basic typical agricultural tours like: tour to Moc Chau Farm in Son La province, experiencing tour to Thanh Xuan agricultural Cooperative, tour visiting Tra Que vegetable village in Quang Nam city (VTC16, Friday, 13/04/2018) (Chuong, 2018) , agricultural tours in Da Lat city, Lam Dong…etc These tours are at basic level which mostly provide agricultural experience courses, but not many of them offer customers with accommodation, food and beverage and leisure activities, let alone the agricultural products in large scale

Around big cities like Ha Noi, there are several farms and resorts provide diversity

of agricultural products and services of both animal and vegetable cultivation, along with agricultural lessons for children and customers These farm are about 50 to 100 kilometers from Ha Noi and can be named as De Trang Farm, Long Viet Agricultural theme park, Rom eco-tourism village, Erahouse Educational House, Dong Que farm in Ba Vi, Viet Village farm, An Lac Resort, Lang Soi resort…ect The common points of these place is providing the basic agricultural experiencing activities to children and the family There is a small number of the business could afford to invest both agricultural experiencing and education services and full tourism service of food and beverage, accommodation, relaxing activities There appears some agricultural resorts like An Lac Farm, Lang Soi farm could launch these services The limitation is that they are doing business in small scale, focusing

on some specific agricultural products, but not be able to provide both agri-tourism activities and agri-production to trade their own agricultural products on the market

In general, agri-tourism in Vietnam starts to develop in small and overlapping scale, but the products are not really attractive to customers (Diep, 2015) According to

Mr Nguyen Van Tuan, the head of Vietnam National Administration of Tourism

“Vietnamese agri-tourism is very promising business in future There is a need for greater co-operation between the tourism and the agricultural sector, and at the same time there must be people who are aware of the distinct and prominent values

of agriculture to produce distinctive and attractive tourism products that are closely related to agriculture In addition, there should be an effective method of marketing, advertising, promoting for stronger development With the current growth trend, agricultural tourism will be a very promising sector in the future”, said on the

newspaper of Danviet.vn (30/03/2018) (Chuong, 2018)

When looking for studies about agri-tourism in Vietnamese language, there are only some studies conducted by students studying tourism, mostly from University of social sciences and humanities, VNU (USSH) Some typical master theses can be listed are: Development of rural agri-tourism in Ninh Binh province, Phan Thi Bich Huyen, 2012; Development of rural agri-tourism in Ba Vi district, Ha Noi city, Nguyen Thi Thuy Diep, 2015; Research on development of rural agri-tourism in An Giang Province, Trinh Tuyet Van, 2015 and so on Generally, these theses have highlighted the important role of combining between tourism and agricultural activities to enhance the value of agri-products and to the growth of local economics However, these papers are focusing on discussing about the potential for agri-tourism in some provinces of Vietnam and then suggest the direction for development but have not come out in detail with the factors influencing the agri-tourism and not be able to state the model for agri-tourism business development With the desire to find out a suitable model which combined agricultural production and tourism to deliver real value to society and bring high benefit to the investor, which in turn can offer helpful hints for agricultural investment in Vietnam, the author tried to look for similar agricultural tourism models in neighboring countries Thailand and Japan are the two countries with the highest searching results for the most tourism-based farms Similar to Vietnam, it is difficult to find research articles

on agricultural tourism in the Thai market The searching results for agricultural tourism in Thailand are showing some farms having tourism-purpose-activities, but not going along with agri-production in large scale On the contrary, it is easier to find the relevant studies from Japan Japan is very famous for its agricultural parks, including some typical agricultural tourism parks like: Mother farm, Koiwai Farm, Daio Wasabi Farm, Shodoshima Olive Park, Nago Pineapple Park, Furano Cheese Factory (Japan-guide, 2018) As they are named, these farms can be divided into 2

kinds of farming businesses: one is focusing on one typical and outstanding product

of the farm, and the other is following the style of agricultural theme park with diversified products and services

On the way of searching, the business of Moku Moku farm in Mie prefecture, located in Kansai area of Japan, is found having not only a strong business of agricultural production and distribution, but also a running an effective on-farm tourism business This agricultural business is so unique that has not been found elsewhere in Japan For the purpose of tourism business, the farm has developed all needed facilities for relaxing and agricultural direct experience Interestingly, the 4 season weather and the traditional way of farming cultivation of this farm is

considered quite similar to the Vietnam‟s context That leads me to a strong motivation to dig deeper to understand more about this business model and how to transfer it to Vietnam Therefore, the author would like to conduct a research to thoroughly understand the Moku Moku farm business model and compare the conditions of formation and development of Moku Moku farm with the largest and most modern agricultural business model in Vietnam at this time – Vineco Tam Dao farm (belonging to Vingroup)

2 Research objectives and questions

The research aims to measure and compare the similar level of influencing factors

to the forming and developing agri-business of two farms, from which a preliminary conclusion on transferability of the agri-business model from Japan to Vietnam

might be assumed Hence, the research objective is to determine the transferability

of the agri-tourism business model from Japan to Vietnam by the cases of Moku Moku farm and Vineco Farm

By clarifying the transferability, the research questions are:

(1) Which factors affecting the establishment and development of the Moku Moku farm agri-tourism business model

(2) How similarity level (transferability) of these factors is between the Japanese farm and Vietnamese farm To answer these questions, this paper is supposed to use

a framework containing suitable the factors influencing the establishment and development of the agri-tourism business model of two farms to compare them

3 Research subject and scopes

Subject of research in this thesis is the factors influencing the formation and

development of the agricultural business of Moku Moku Fam and Vineco Tam Dao Farm, focus more on the agricultural tourism business (agri-tourism business)

Scope of research includes:

Place scope: This study uses data collected from the two farms in comparison with

In addition, the thesis also uses the qualitative approach in doing research in which primary data is collected on the basis of observation, experts and customer in-depth interviews

5 Structure of the thesis

The thesis will start by an introduction with basic information of research rational, research objectives and questions, research subjects and scopes, and research approach After that, there will have 6 main chapters of the research

Chapter 1: Literature review on concepts of agri-tourism business and management approach to build up a suitable research framework

Chapter 2: Research methodology

Chapter 3: The analysis of agri-business model of Moku Moku farm

Chapter 4: The analysis of agri-business of Vineco Tam Dao Farm

Chapter 5: The results of comparative analysis of factors between Moku Moku Farm and Vineco Tam Dao Farm

Chapter 6: Discussion and conclusion on the transferability of business model from Moku Moku farm to Vineco Tam Dao Farm

Each chapter of the thesis will be presented as follow

CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW

Throughout the literature review, the comparative business models proposed by Harbison and Myers in 1959 and by Gonzalez and McMillan in 1961 are two noticeable models which analyzed the external factors very well Afterward, the models by Farmer & Richman in 1964, again, highlight that these factors of education, sociology, culture, legal-political, economics have strong influences on the management efficiency In the study of (Negandhi & Estafen, 1965) and (Koontz, 1969) and other doctoral researchers of the universities in the United State are the following studies in this matter They commonly discuss and clarify the logic and the management knowledge that can be universally applied in a different situation (Yokozawa, 2012) As a consequence, to learn about the universal transferability, the comparative study approach is used as a tool to compare the objectives in order to identify the differences and similarities between them Hence, according to the comparison, the writers can assume and conclude if the researched objectives can be transferred and how they are transferred across different conditions and environments (Yokozawa, 2012) That is the reason why in this study, in order to figure out whether the business model of Agri-tourism in Japan (Moku Moku farm) can be transferred to Vietnam (Vineco farm), the author decided

to use the comparative management approach to find the answer for this research question

For organizations working in this field, they are certainly dependent on the natural and external environment which is not mentioned much in the model of comparative management approach However, despite proposing an effective comparative management model that is updated and can be applied universally for a different organization, the factors listed in the models of previous authors are not matched with the current business working in the field of agriculture and agri-tourism sector Hence, based on the review of the typical factors influencing the agri-tourism business, the author will make the comparative management model more accurate with the current situation in order to propose a suitable comparative

management model for agri-tourism business By using this new model as the research framework, the study will be able to compare the differences and similarities of the two farms to determine the feasibility of transferring the Moku Moku farm agri-tourism business model to Vineco Tam Dao Farm

1.1 Concepts of agricultural tourism (hereby called as agri-tourism)

Agri-tourism or agro-tourism is a term that is getting popular and defined broadly in the researching literature Since 1960, agri-tourism (or agro-tourism with the same meaning) has gained a popular awareness This term involves any agriculturally-based operation or activity that brings visitors to a farm or ranch According to Cambridge dictionary, agri-tourism business is the business of providing holidays for people on farms or in the countryside/rural areas (agri-tourism, dictionary.cambridge.org) In fact, agri-tourism, farming tourism, farm-based tourism, and rural tourism are often used interchangeably with agri-tourism and vice-versa (Barbieri & M.Mshenga, 2008) For the purposes of consistency, the term „agri-tourism‟ will be chosen to present for “agricultural tourism” throughout this paper

Agri-tourism, actually, has been mentioned in different ways of expression in the international literature relating to tourism and rural development But, in order to approach that definition as a concept, there is still a limitation In a research of Phillip et al 2010, agri-tourism is considered as a “muddled” concept between realities and expectation of the owners (Phillip, Hunter, & Blackstock, 2010) In his research, a theoretical classification of agri-tourism operations based on three criteria is built: a working farm, the level of contact between the tourist and agricultural activity (i.e: passive, direct or indirect), and whether the visitor‟s experience is authentic or staged (Phillip, Hunter, & Blackstock, 2010) From those

of three criteria, there developed a non-hierarchical five-class typology of tourism relating to the concepts of the non-working farm, working farm, passive contact agri-tourism, direct and indirect contact agri-tourism, authentic agri-tourism (Phillip, Hunter, & Blackstock, 2010) Amongst five-class typology, the image of Moku Moku farm agri-tourism business matches with the typology of working farm,

agri-direct contact, authentic agri-tourism but more extended activities (farming products

in meals on the farm, farming demonstration, helping with farming jobs…etc)

It is interesting that there found a close definition of agri-tourism written on the website wikitravel.org They defined agri-tourism as a means of traveling around farming, with the small scale of food production or animal husbandry It is an activity of “visiting a working farm for the purpose of enjoyment and education are key parts of this often rural experience” By this way, tourist usually wants to see how the food is grown, the animal is fed and raised Moreover, this website also highlights that “Agri-tourism is taking residents from urban areas to rural areas for leisure travel and spending There are activities supposed to have with this kind of business like: overnight stays, recreation activities (wedding, honeymoon, hayrides, horseback ridings, corn mazes, rice murals…), food productions (milk & cheese, vegetable gardens, grain & rice productions, orchard, ground fruits, etc), animal

husbandry, markets and festivals etc By this description, agri-tourism is understood as a working farm which provides traveling around the farm with entertaining activities and educational activities, including animals raising and food growing, food productions and food consumption These ideas of agri-tourism

seem matched with what farming tourism in Japan is demonstrating now, especially for the Moku Moku farm which is providing quite exactly what is said about agri-tourism in this definition of wikitravel.org

It is undoubtedly that agri-tourism has been proved bringing great benefits to the owners and farmers It has been supposed to help farming families stay in business, protect the national agricultural heritage and increase the productivity of farm resources through their recreational use, and even to improve the economic situation

of local communities ( (Ollenburg & Buckley, 2007); (Wilson, Thilmay, & Watson, 2006) In short, agri-tourism brings many benefits for the very farms, their owners, and the local communities as well as society in general Agri-tourism has a positive influence on the farming family income and the local community economics via sales taxes, local employment as well as stimulating local businesses by tourism services, accommodations, restaurants and shops (Barbieri, 2009) It is believed that

at the farm level, tourism business helps to create a more stable, and higher income for the producer (Brandth & Haugen, 2007) Generally speaking, the previous studies mostly focused on clarifying the role and development of agri-tourism It is noted that not many researchers found discussing the model for the establishment and development of an agri-tourism business model

1.2 Factors influencing the agri-tourism business

An overview of which factors that are influencing the agri-tourism business will be discussed in this part Frankly, in agri-tourism sector, the environmental aspects researched often describes a wide range of natural factors like water resource, geomorphology, topography form, landscape, and climate Such factors allow the agri-tourism business to have favorable conditions for tourist activities, entertainment, leisure, recreation, contemplation In other words, these aspects benefit the development of agri-tourism (Sznajder, Przezbórska, & Scrimgeour, 2009)

The two aspects that affect the informed selection of farm owners are product type (such as accommodation and working farm stay providers) and geographical area (Flanigan, Blackstock, & Hunter, 2014) And, the differences in geography, agriculture, local culture, proximity to cities and tourism potential across areas should also be taken into account (Flanigan, Blackstock, & Hunter, 2014) In the next study in 2015, Flanigan Sharon and the team-members have noted that the individual characteristics of providing owners are varied within the factors of agriculture types, farm sizes, employee numbers, visitor numbers (Flanigan, Blackstock, & Hunter, Generating public and private benefits through understanding what drives different types of agri-tourism, 2015)

Next, in the study in 2017, Cristina & Fidalgo stated strongly that there are aspects influencing agri-tourism: natural environmental; Socioeconomic (local population; the strong partnership among small rural producers, historical and cultural origins); Land use and agriculture production; Tourist infrastructure (restaurants, hotels and lodgings, and leisure options); Historical and cultural attractions; Tourism management and planning (Pedreira & Fidalgo, 2017) In addition, they said that the

lack of specific norms and legislation (or policy) to guide and organize agri-tourism activities and the threats to the environment due to inappropriate management of natural resources are the aspects that may limit the agri-tourism progress in both municipalities (the two research objectives in the study) (Pedreira & Fidalgo, 2017) Based on these of literature review on the previous agri-tourism studies, the factors influencing the agri-tourism business are pointed out as natural environment (geography, climate, water & soil resource and land use); socioeconomic (local population; partnership among producers, historical and cultural origins; norms and legislation, tourist infrastructures (hotels, restaurants, lodgings, leisure options); land use and agriculture production, tourism management and planning

1.3 Theoretical background of management approach

This part will mainly discuss the theory on the international transfer of business practice and models The research in the past says that theory of transferability of the practice is mixed But, they could still be divided into 4 main dominated approaches of Hybridization approach, contingency theory approach, institution theory approach and universal management system approach

Hybridization approach

When a knowledge of management is transferred from an organization to another, it will either be originally copied and remains the effectiveness as it is or mixed with local knowledge and practice for a new knowledge born This knowledge then is considered as a hybridization Hence, by dint of the cross-border transfer of management principles and practices, this approach is the child of the original company‟s way of doing business in the local context Some studies about hybridization approach are conducted by (Kumon & Abo, 2004); in which they evaluated the level of management principles adapted in local organizations In general, the results of these studies often indicate that situational factors affect the hybrid level in the knowledge transfer process In general, Hybrid evaluation model

is used to evaluate the degree to which management systems have been adapted to locally used management systems (Yokozawa, 2012) For this point, this approach

is not suitable to use in this research since there is no similar management model in

the Vietnamese side of the receiver The study just aims to research on the similarity and difference of the conditions to establish and develop the Japanese agri-tourism business model in Vietnam

Contingency theory approach

Contingency approach is also considered as a context of situation approach This approach claims that are several factors affecting the process of knowledge transfer and it depends on the situation On the wikipedia.org, it is said that there is no universally applicable for management principle in general organizations Each organization is unique and different in their own ways and need a different method

of management There argued that the factors affecting the extent of transferability

of an oversea management system are the size of the company, experience of the company, types of ownership, and sector (Purcell, Nicholas, & Whitwell, 1999) In his study, Purcell also noticed that in the manufacturing field, the number of local worker to expatriates is significant and expressed a hybrid appearance of local management practices (Purcell, Nicholas, & Whitwell, 1999) In a short word, this approach means that “one size does not fit all” But in this paper, the author is looking for an approach that can basically and generally fit in the process of transferring the management knowledge and practices from Japan to Vietnam in the field of agri-tourism business by providing the criteria for transferring and comparison Hence, this approach seems not the perfect one to use

Institution theory approach

This approach was used in the researches to investigate the transfer of Japanese management As a result, they claimed that transfer of Japanese manufacturing and personnel practices in Japan were successfully transferred to manufacturers in the United Kingdom (Oliver & Wilkinson, 1992) In the following study conducted by Taylor in 1999 in Japan and China, he obtained a result that the transferability of production systems from Japan to China within the subsidiaries was using the Japanese framework, but without an overall pattern, an overriding set of relations to explain the divergence of management practices (Taylor, 1999) In his study, the aspects of factory size, local market, factory location, the age of the company, the

share of owners, the production chain position, production equipment and the size

of the mother company are believed to have a saying over explaining the nature of practices in each research case Actually, this approach is more likely to be used in public administration researches and it looks like a more theoretical approach

Universal management systems approach (Comparative management approach)

This approach was the major approach since the end of the 1950s and getting popularity during 1970-1980 It was often used in studies related to the companies

in United States Comparative management approach focuses on discussing and comparing the variables affecting the universal application of the management know-know of American companies in different environments (Koontz, 1969) The studies conducted by Harbison and Myers in 1959 and by Gonzalez and McMillan

in 1961 are two outstanding researchers about the transferability of management principles and practices The external factors are well analyzed, such as education, sociology, culture, legal-political, economics, and believed that have strong impact

on the management efficiency (Richard N Farmer, 1964) Followed by this study are the research of Negandhi and Estafen in 1965; and Koontz (1969) as well as some other studies by doctoral students of American universities The common sense of the researchers in this time is to discuss and clarify the logic and the universality of management knowledge that can be applied effectively in different situations and systems Each person, then, tried to form their own theory and framework of the universality of basic management (Koontz, 1969) To study the universal transferability, the comparative study approach is used in order to make a comparison between the compared objectives with the similar elements to identify the similarity and difference between them Based on that, authors can make consumption and conclusion whether and how the researched objectives can be transferable across different environments and nations

1.4 Comparative management model toward the transferability of a business model from a context to the other

Through analysis of 4 approaches in researching on the transfer of management practices, the authors found that the comparative management approach

(universality of management knowledge) is the most appropriate method to apply in this study

It is obvious that managerial effectiveness is the critical factor in the economic system The better the management, the greater output will be (Richard N Farmer, 1964) In doing business, an organization must always strive to operate efficiently

in order to achieve its goals with the least use of resources and costs In knowledge management transfer, especially cross-nation transfer, external factors have a significant influence on the success of the transfer process (Richard N Farmer, 1964) For an agri-business model that includes production, retail and service delivery, external factors such as natural climatic and geographical conditions, social, political and cultural environments have a great impact on business performance

For the purpose of studying the business model of the Moku Moku farm – a typical Japanese agricultural business, and evaluating the transferability of this model in the context of Vietnam, the use of a comparative approach in management will help to compare the conditions of formation and development of both objects, so that the author can evaluate the degree of similarity and difference of the two, giving a basic assumption of the transferability level of this business model The use of comparative research methods allows the author to carefully examine every aspect

of the business, thus giving practical contributions to the transferee when constructing this kind of business model in Vietnam

When learning about the comparative management approach, the authors find that each researcher has built up their own framework model which is increasingly perfect The framework is used as a basis for transferring and evaluating the effectiveness of the transfer process One of the leading authors of the comparative approach might be Farmer & Richman, 1964 with the framework in which the external factors are highly considered

This approach has been through a long history of development The first outstanding study on this approach is the paper of Richard N Farmer and Barry M Richman in 1971 The authors had successfully proposed a model of factors based

on that the audience can understand the influencing flow of the external constraints and elements of management process to managerial effectiveness The factors listed

in the model is, until now, using in many next studies and stay valuable

Figure 1.1: Richard N Farmer & Barry M Richman, 1964 A Model for

Research in Comparative Management

Source: Richard N Farmer & Barry M Richman, 1964

Analyzing this moment, there found a matter that this model lacks business philosophy which is now considered a very important factor of a company for a sustainable development and a right direction and orientation for the company in the future continuous development Hence, it will be improved in the following researchers

Following Farmer & Richman in 1964, there talks about the Harold Koonzt model

in 1969 which is considered the most complex model but seemed to get the welcoming comments from the audience

At first, it could be said that the reader would be impressive when learning about this accurate and complete model of management comparing, with all kinds of related factors being listed inside, including concepts of basic management science (principle and philosophy), enterprise function, human resource and material resources, external environment, management and non-management practices (Koontz, 1969) This model is considered a full model of the comparative management model But the point is, there are some factors being duplicated in the model And, it can be said that the more accurate and complex it is, the more difficult to analyze and apply In the context of this research, the author would like

to figure out a-not- too-complicated model with accurate factors to apply in order making a good and clear comparison between transferring side and receiving side

Figure 1.2: Harold Koonzt, 1969 Comparative management model

Source: Harold Koontz, 1969

The comparative management approach was continuously studied and came to the newest model of Negandhi and Prasad model in 1971 as below:

Figure 1.3: A R Negandhi and S B Prasad, 1971 Comparative Management

model

Source: A R Negandhi and S B Prasad, 1971

Looking at this model, it is noticeable that the management philosophy accounted for an important position in the model, which is then split up and explained in more detail with smaller factors of employees, consumers, suppliers, stockholders, government, community (Negandhi & Prasad, 1971) In this study, the management philosophy is considered a group of attitudes, goes along with the environmental factors to affect the management practices The role of environmental factors definitely stated at the strongest level while it directly influences the management practices, the management effectiveness and then the enterprise effectiveness Never before in the literature of comparative management has approach had such research that indicates the role of environmental factors clearly like this study But, the weak point is that this model does not highly recognize the inner competency of the company as affecting factors, but as a receiving objective Moreover, the environmental factors are believed to, somehow, affect, the business of an organization But in this model of Negandhi & Prasad, 1971, it is not mentioned This could be considered the limitation of the model

1.5 The development of research framework

1.5.1 Adapted from Harod Koonzt comparative management model

Learning about different models of comparative management in the history, it can

be seen that the model of Harold Koontz, 1969, is the most accurate one in term of criteria and factors Hence, his model will be adapted to become the framework for comparing conditional factors influencing the transferability of the agri-tourism business from Japan to Vietnam in this paper (research on conditional factors only)

However, in this study, the author would like to not divide the factors into managerial and non-managerial in order to make the model easier for understanding and applying in analyzing factors, but still keeping the main factors with the influencing flow

1.5.2 Adjusting influencing factors in the framework

Based on the literature review in in agri-tourism research history, the paper would like to use suitable factors that influence the agri-tourism business to put in the list

of factors in the model of Harold Koontz, hence, make the model be more accurate for the purpose of studying in the research of conditional factors affecting transferability of agri-business model from Japan to Vietnam Factors include natural environment (geography, climate, water & soil resource and land use); socioeconomic (local population; partnership among producers, historical and cultural origins; norms and legislation, tourist infrastructures (hotels, restaurants, lodgings, leisure options); land use and agriculture production, tourism management and planning

The model of Harod Koonzt built in 1969 in which the factors are out of date in such today‟s business environment Nowadays, for external factors, it is getting more and more popular to use the tools of PESTLE analysis to analyzing the macro environment as well as taking the Michael Porter‟ five-forces analysis to analyzing the micro environment (Aldehayyat & Anchor, 2009) The PESTLE here is standing for Political Factor, Economic Factor, Socio-cultural Factor and Technological factor, Legal factor and Environmental factor And the five-forces are in short of threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of customers, bargaining power of suppliers, industry rivalry (Porter, 1985) For factors of

“Enterprise function sciences” mentioned in the model of Harod Koonzt, it is also now equal and well-known as internal value chain (Porter, 1985) The internal value chain focuses in the internal business environment of a company, contains factors of: business concept; inbound and outbound logistics; operation; marketing & sales; firm infrastructure; human Resource management; procurement and technology Due to the lack of data on the logistics, hence, the inbound and outbound logistics will not be mentioned in this model for analysis, but replaced by the distribution factor

1.5.3 Research Framework

After all these above analysis, under a careful consideration and explanation, the model used in this paper could be displayed as the following:

This framework is proposed based on adaptation from the model of (Koontz, 1969),

combined with the influencing factors collected in literature review of agri-tourism and be updated with the tools of PESTLE, five-forces analysis and Internal value chain (Porter, 1985)

Figure 1.4: Research Framework

Source: the author, 2018

1.5.4 Measurements of influencing factors

To evaluate the important level of each factor, there are suitable measurements

which will be listed in the below table:

Micro environment (5 forces)

Threat of new entrants

Threat of substitutes

Bargaining power of customers

Bargaining power of suppliers

Industry rivalry

Table 1.1: measurement indicators of influencing factors

No Main factors Measurement indicators

1 Political factor Political index of stability

3 Socio-cultural factor Population

Cultural origins and tourism attractions

4 Technological factor Internet subscribe

Advanced technologies in agriculture

6 Environmental factor

Climate Soil condition Water condition Geographic location

7 Threat of new entrants

Population working in farming Trend of new entry

Market potential Capital requirement

8 Threat of substitutes Buyer‟s switching costs

Number of substitute products

9 Bargaining power of

customers

Buyer switching costs Buyer price sensitivity Diversity of customers

10 Bargaining power of

supplier

Supplier switching costs Presence of substitute inputs Supplier competition

11 Industry rivalry Powerful competitive strategy

Sustainable competitive advantage

12 Business concepts

Vision Mission philosophy

13 Human resource

Number of labor Labor competency Labor responsibility

14 Marketing & Sales Marketing channel

Sales channel Marketing and Sales employees

15 Production

Agricultural production Agricultural processing production Agri-tourism operation

Profit rate

17 Technology

Technologies used in business Business infrastructure: internal transportation, decoration, facility…

18 Distribution Direct distribution

In-direct distribution

These indicators of measurement will also be used to get the marking from experts

in order to generally evaluate the current status of these factors in Vietnam‟s condition

1.6 Chapter conclusion

In this chapter, the author has been reviewing the literature relating to management approach, strategic tools for analysis and as a result, a suitable framework has been formed to use in this study Therefore, based on the factors listed in the framework, which has an impact on the agri-business of Moku Moku farm and Vineco Tam Dao farm, the author will have a right direction to collect data for analysis and comparison

CHAPTER 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

2.1 Methods of the research

2.1.1 Case study method

It is known that the case study approach is to help to make clear of a decision on why and how and with what results the research objective is implemented (Schramm, 1971) This research is applying the case study method with two cases

of Moku Moku farm in Japan and Vineco Tam Dam farm in Vietnam for some reasons Firstly, the case study helps to explore a new area where few studies have been deeply researched with the main questions of how and why (Eisenhardt, 1989); (Glaser & Strauss, 1977) Secondly, for the purpose of investigating and extending the existing framework, it is suitable, too, to use case study approach (Eisenhardt, 1989) Third, the case study offers a very effective tool to gather the real and practical information to capture the physical and soft elements of the organizations presented in the current study (Voss, Tsikriktsis, & Frohlich, 2002) Furthermore, case study approach is an effective method to have the deepest digging into a phenomenon That is why this method is chosen in this study by the two cases of Moku Moku farm in Japan and Vineco Tam Dao farm in Vietnam

2.1.2 Observation method

To conduct this qualitative study, the author used the observation method as an effective data collection channel Observations were made through field visits to the farms The author has two days to observe and record data at the Moku Moku Farm

in Mie Prefecture, Japan in early January 2018 And one day to observe and record data at Vineco Tam Dao Farm, Tam Dao district, Vinh Phuc province in March

2018, and another one day to observe the working place of Vineco Tam Dao farm in Time City, Hanoi These field trips helped the author to observe the production and business practices of both farms with practical data for research and evaluation

2.1.3 Archival research

In addition to observation method, the author also conducted an archival research to examine secondary information of the factors that were introduced in the framework

of this research Archival research is particularly useful in finding information on the external, micro-and macro-factors of the business

2.1.4 Open in-depth interview

To assess the effectiveness and potential of the business model of Moku Moku Farm when transferring to Vietnam, the author has sought the opinions of experts in the fields of management business, marketing, travel and tourism With in-depth knowledge of the above areas, experts will have a more accurate assessment of the appropriate factors in Vietnam's condition that Vineco has as well as the potential and feasibility of this business in Vietnam

Simultaneously with depth interviews with experts, the author also performs depth interviews with a number of potential customers of this business model in Vietnam market The purpose of these interviews is to understand the customer's practical needs for this agri-business model when it is put into operation in the Vietnamese market At the same time, the interviews will help to better understand the expectations that Vietnamese customers want to receive from this business model, assess the customer's willingness to visit and level of spending on the business

in-Interviews are open-ended interviews The question is designed in semi-structured form to be more flexible when talking with the interviewees and dig deeper into their opinions on the issues involved

2.2 Data collection

In this paper, by dint of using the qualitative approach, the author focuses on collecting the qualitative data through channels of secondary data, and in-depth interviews

The first job is searching for the literature to identify the influencing factors that influence the agri-tourism business Based on those factors, primary and secondary data will be collected from the field trip to the farms, in-depth interviews with managers, customers, and experts Third, a comparative analysis of the determined factors from both farms was applied to evaluate the similarities and differences between two farms Based on that, an assumption may be given

The aspects influencing agri-tourism business should be selected based on the match with the Koontz's model of comparative management approach, in conformity with the practical cases of this study The factors are business philosophy and principles; marketing & sales; production and land size; finance; distribution; human resource; climate (including soil & water resources); geographic location; historical and cultural origins; political-legal issues; tourist infrastructure; and market demand

The field trip to Moku Moku farm lasted for 2 days with the job of observing the real business environment, products, and services of the farm On the trip, the authors took advantages of time to conduct in-depth interviews with the farm general manager and farm reservation manager as well as some short conversation with the customers on the farm All kinds of related information were recorded carefully by recording file, video, and picture

For the side of Vineco Tam Dao farm, the author has paid three times of visit to both the farm and the company headquarters There was a 1-day field trip to the farm to observe the land size and the business activities and progress of the farm There were 2 times of visiting headquarters, having close conversations with two key persons of the company (the sales manager and marketing executive) to understand the company philosophy and expectation on building this agri-tourism business model as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the company The information collected from the conversations with managers of Vineco is written in the paper without recording or videotaping The information collected from the farm trip is recorded and captured by pictures

As important factors which strongly affect the decision of receiving the transfer and investing in building this agri-tourism business model in Vietnam side, the information on market demand should be given a special attention Hence, there are

8 interviews with experts who have at least 5 years of working in the field of marketing and sales and tourism conducted In addition, there are also 6 in-depth interviews with potential customers to know how the customers react to this agri-tourism business and what they are really looking for from this business in order to make suggestions to design the business after that The customers are selected with

some basic criteria of at the age of 25 to 45, having a family with children and enjoying the annual income of from 200 million Vietnam dong to over 500 million Vietnam dong (middle-income family) The number of interviews is set based on the learning from the previous studies in this field

Table 2.1: List of experts

experience Job title and Organization

Lecturer at Vietnam Japan University, Vice-Rector at Vietnam-Japan University, VNU

2 Dr Mai

Anh

Human resort management, business administration,

marketing

19 years

Lecturer Head of Academic & Training Department, College of International studies, VNU

3 Dr Tran

Bich Hanh

Business administration, marketing and leadership

12 years Lecturer at Vietnam Japan

University, VNU

4 Dr Ho Chi

Dung

Marketing and Business administration

25 years

Lecturer at University of Economics and Business, VNU

20 years

Lecturer, Management sciences, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU

6 Ms Bui Ha

Phuong

Market research specialist Financial specialists

5 years Japanese market research

company

7 Mr Do

Dang Trung Sales&marketing 20 years

Sales director, Newland travel company

Table 2.2: List of potential customers of Vineco

No Full name Job tittle No of children and annual income

1 Ms.Nguyen Thi

01 child of 1 year old Family income of under 50 million đ/month, less than 500 million dong/ year

2 Ms Le Thu Cuc Bank teller

Businesswoman

02 children, 4 and 8 years old Family income: over 500 million dong/year

3 Ms Vu Cam

02 children, 2 and 6 years old Family income: less than 500 million dong/ year

4 Ms Nguyen Thi

01 child, 5 years old Family income: N/A

5 Ms Nguyen Thi

02 children Family income: about or less than

500 million dong/ year

6 Mr Mai Dinh

01 child of over 1 year old Family income: less than 500 million dong/year

7 Ms Nguyen Thi

01 child of 2 years old Family income: less than 500 million dong/year

8 Ms Do Thi Loan

01 child of under 1 year old Family income: over 500 million dong/year

9 Ms Tran Thi Bich

01 child 4-5 years old

Annual family income: less than

500 million dong/year From the above table, it can be seen that all the potential customers are having an annual income of around 500 million VND (equal with about 25 USD/year) With this income, they can have a quite good life in big cities like Ha Noi and self-considered as of the the middle income level in Vietnam

2.3 Data Analysis

The interview data are recorded on tape in Vietnamese and then written down in the transcription before being translated in English The participant will be provided the information and explanation about the research before recording the interview to make sure the participant understand the context and questions Then, transcriptions are done by using the recordings The transcripts are analyzed to get insights of the

expert opinion and the customer demands The author will analysis and compare the factors of two farms based on the score that expert gives to each indicator of factors about the similarities of Vineco Tam Dao Farm and Moku Moku farm The comments and discussion will help to clarify and evaluate the similarity and difference of the data An assumption shall be stated afterward

2.4 Questionnaire development

Conduct the open-in-depth interviews with experts and potential customer

2.4.1 Questionnaire for experts and Vineco managers of sales and marketing

Table 2.3: Lists of open-ended in-depth interview questions for experts

1 After getting to know about the model, how do you

think about this kind of business model, personally?

Business concept, business potential

2 Which kinds of customers do you think will be the

targeted consumers of this business in Japan?

Market demand, market potential, customer bargaining power

3

Have you ever heard about find this business model in

Vietnam market? Whether it is potential to develop this

kind of agri-tourism model in Vietnam?

Market demand, customer bargaining power, supplier bargaining power

4 How do you think about the potential of this business

model in Vietnam market, in term of market demands?

Market potential Influencing factors

5

Which factors do you think will affect this kinds of

business when it is transferred to Vietnam? (Macro

environment, micro environment, internal business

environment)?

Influencing factors

6 Do you think that Tam Dao farm is a good location for

farming and doing farming-tourism and why? Environmental factor

7

With these information, do you think Vineco have the

capacity to build up this kind of model In Vineco Tam

Dao Farm? Please clarify according to your knowledge

Internal business environment factors

(For example: land size, financial source, human

resource, management capacity, sales and marketing

capacity, market demand, distribution…etc )

8

Which kinds of customers do you think will be the

targeted consumers of this business in Vietnam in

general and for Vineco Tam Dao Farm in particular?

Targeted customers

9

Personal ideas: If there is this kind of business in

Vietnam, about 50-60km from your home, (for

example in Vineco Tam Dao farm), do you want to

visit?

Transportation Geographic Location

10 By which transport means will you travel from your

11

Do you have any idea on the transportation system to

the farm that can help you feel more comfortable and

13 How often you will visit? And with whom? Customer demand

14

How much are you able to pay to have this service? In

detail: how much should the entrance fee is and the fee

for the whole tour is? For the whole family and for an

adult and for children

Pricing

15

How should Vineco notice in designing the business to

catch up with market demand and attract more

customers?

Operation designing Tourism designing

16

In your opinion, among these above discussed factors,

which are the key factors affecting this business when

it is transferred to Vietnam?

Key factors

17 The Moku Moku farm in Japan follows the traditional Technology

agricultural cultivating methods, which is close to

mother nature, while Vineco is following very high

technology cultivating methods which leads to high

production and safe products Do you think that is there

any difficulty for Vineco? If yes, what it is and how to

fix that matter?

Cultivating method

18

After all information and discussion, do you have any

comments or advices on building this kind of

agri-tourism business model, not only for Vineco (as a

counter-part of this research), but also for other

investors who are interested in investing in this

business model in Vietnam?

Suggestion advice

2.4.2 Questionnaire for potential customer

For potential customer, the purpose of the questions is to understand the demand of customer for this kind of business model, how willing they are to use the products and services that this business will provide and what they expect from this business model Hence, the question is open-structured and free-discussed The list of questions will be attached in the Appendix section of this paper

2.5 Chapter’s conclusion

In this chapter, the author has introduced how to come up with this research topic, the emergency of the topic and the research objectives Chapter 1 has also describes the review of related literature of agri-tourism Based on that, the author can determine which factors affecting the agri-tourism business With a glance on the review of management approach, the comparative management approach is selected

to be the one used in this research in order to compare the conditional factors of doing business in Japan and Vietnam The method of doing research is also discussed in this part as the bone of collecting date

CHAPTER 3: ANALYSIS OF AGRI-BUSINESS MODEL OF MOKU MOKU FARM

3.1 Introduction of Moku Moku Farm

Iga no Sato Moku Moku Tezukuri Farm (hereby called as Moku Moku farm) developed from individual farmers who were trying to survive within the big market Moku means wood in Japanese Moku Moku Farm is a working farm and agricultural theme park located at 3609 Nishi-Yubune, Iga City, Mie Prefecture 518-1392 JAPAN The business has a Nougakusha Rental Vegetable Garden at Yono-Yahara, Iga City, Mie Prefecture, too Moku Moku Farms (モクモクファー

ム) plays the role of an organic farm and an agricultural theme park and tourism

farming in Iga (Moku Moku Farm, 2018) The farm cultivates and produces diversified farming products, especially famous for its pork and beer Moku Moku farm is one of the largest farms in Mie and attracts an increasing number of tourists

to Iga city every year (Mie Prefecture, 2018)

Currently, there are approximately 1,000 employees with over 140 permanent staff,

160 part-time staff with long-term contracts, and 700 part time employees with short-term contracts Annual profits in 2012 were 5.1 billion yen In the acreage of the main farm of about 14 hectares, the farm organizes the business with accommodation of cottage, studios, factories, service areas and farming areas Coming to the farm, visitors can observe the agricultural life and process of making fresh products as well as doing shopping of safe and high-quality food with the slogan of "Produce by Ourselves, Process by Ourselves, and Provide by ourselves The slogan is partly showing the commitment of the farm in producing and providing customers with high quality and safe products responsibly

Moku Moku farm offers a variety of agricultural products with restaurants and stores inside and outside of the farm and on the website Their mission is to advance its current agriculture to the industry with not only food providing and agricultural education, but also doing food processing and selling There are typical farming

products of Moku Moku farm, such as fresh products of rice, seasonal fruits, soybeans, mushrooms, strawberries, and etc; processed products of Sausage and Ham, bakery and sweets bakery, brewery, tofu, jersey milk, roast pork, etc (www.moku-moku.com) Along with growing the agricultural products, the farm also cooperates with local farmers to produce high-quality farming products Hence, the online and offline markets of the farm is to sell both farm‟s products and local farm‟s products

3.1.1 Agricultural and food production

Moku-Moku farm produces many varieties of food, but it is most well-known for its pork and beer Moku Moku Farm was established in 1983 by five pig farmers who raised “Iga–buta” (Iga pig) The company was not well known at the time However, the farm change from just five pig farmers to what is now an agricultural producers‟ cooperative At first the thought was that having resources and good tasting food would make their business profitable, but they were wrong Other factors also needed to be considered in establishing the business (Go Ma Karen Quilloy, 2012) The company therefore initiated the one of five policies, stating that “additional farmers can raise pigs and other animals for sale Their profit margin is not large so that we can sell the animals at a low price.” As time passed, they looked for a consortium to provide the meat and the processing for the business

In 1987, the company established “the Moku Moku Ham Factory,” run by pig farmers in the Iga city community In 1989, they started teaching the process of making hand-made sausages In 1995, they opened “Moku Moku Tesukuri Farm” and start making local beer In 2002,they saw the opening of their first restaurant branch in Yotsukaichi City, Mie Prefecture In 2011, they opened Hahatoko restaurant and by 2013 they had opened their 7th branch restaurant, in Abeno, Osaka Prefecture To the end of 2017, they are running 9 brand restaurants across Japan, 4 gift shops in prefectures of Mie, Nagoya, Osaka, Shiga, and Tokyo

The total area of the farm is over 30 hectares On the site there are four restaurants, cottages for overnight accommodation, a hot springs spa, educational classes to learn about farming, cooking, baking, and brewing beer, a petting zoo and pony