The Declining Research Domain of Mid-sized Firms : The Japanese Context

Following the publication of Hideichiro Nakamura’s pioneering work, Medium-sized Vital Enterprises, in 1964, some small-business researchers in Japan became interested in medium-sized enterprises. By the early 1980s, management scholars were following the trend. Despite the high level of interest from practitioners and policy makers, this research domain has inexplicably been witnessing a recent decline. This article presents a narrative review of the existing literature on medium-sized enterprises from the viewpoint of management studies. The findings show that the focus of each researcher in this domain is disparate and that a new theoretical foundation must be sought to satisfy practical needs.