Abstract
Naoki Wakabayashi, Masaru Yamashita, and Jin-ichiro Yamada, “Japanese
Networks of Top-Performing Films: Repeated Teams Preserve Uniqueness,”
Journal of Media Business Studies, 6(4):31-48 (2009).
Key Words: project management, social capital, teams, communities of practice, motion
pictures
This article examines the current Japanese film industry, where it is well known that
certain directors and production teams repeatedly work together to produce a series of
films that often show high economic and artistic performance. Firstly, through historical
examination, we describe how these teams shape a stable and long-term community of
practice in making unique local films that can hold their own against Hollywood films.
Secondly, we explore the collaboration networks of 2443 Japanese filmmakers in 207
films from 1999 to 2004 through social network analysis and find that closeness, strength
and closure of their ties which may shape such communities of practice, function as a
special type of social capital for top-performing films with unique and local cinematic taste.
Naoki Wakabayashi, Masaru Yamashita, and Jin-ichiro Yamada, “Japanese
Networks of Top-Performing Films: Repeated Teams Preserve Uniqueness,”
Journal of Media Business Studies, 6(4):31-48 (2009).
Key Words: project management, social capital, teams, communities of practice, motion
pictures
This article examines the current Japanese film industry, where it is well known that
certain directors and production teams repeatedly work together to produce a series of
films that often show high economic and artistic performance. Firstly, through historical
examination, we describe how these teams shape a stable and long-term community of
practice in making unique local films that can hold their own against Hollywood films.
Secondly, we explore the collaboration networks of 2443 Japanese filmmakers in 207
films from 1999 to 2004 through social network analysis and find that closeness, strength
and closure of their ties which may shape such communities of practice, function as a
special type of social capital for top-performing films with unique and local cinematic taste.
