Dr. Yamakawa is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Babson College. He received his Bachelor of Laws from Keio University (Tokyo, Japan), obtained his M.B.A. in Strategic Management from Peter F. Drucker Graduate School of Management (Claremont, CA), and completed his Ph.D. in Entrepreneurship at the School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas (Richardson, TX). Prior to beginning his doctoral studies, Dr. Yamakawa spent ten years working in Japan’s utility and telecommunication industries where he engaged in numerous corporate venturing activities and entrepreneurial start-ups. Dr. Yamakawa teaches in the areas/intersections of Entrepreneurship, Strategy, and International Business. He comes from a multi-cultural background, having lived in eight different countries around the world.
Dr. Yamakawa’s research explores the stimulants and constraints behind entrepreneurial learning, emergence, and growth. His current research interests include: Learning from entrepreneurial failure, challenges and dilemmas inherent in corporate venturing, bankruptcy laws and entrepreneurship development, and failure of industry emergence. Dr. Yamakawa has presented his research at leading academic conferences such as Academy of Management Conference, Academy of International Business Conference, and Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference. He has won the Best Paper Award from the Office of Advocacy, U.S. Small Business Administration for exploring the public issue of importance to the entrepreneurial community for the paper, “Entrepreneurship and the barrier to exit: How does entrepreneur-friendly bankruptcy law affect entrepreneurship development at the societal level?” His paper, “How does experience of previous entrepreneurial failure impact future entrepreneurship?” has been selected Best Paper Proceedings and as Carolyn Dexter Award finalist. He has also won the Irene M. McCarthy Best Paper Award for the paper “Revitalizing and learning from failure for future entrepreneurial growth.” Dr. Yamakawa’s work has been published in leading Entrepreneurship/Management journals such as Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Research Policy, and Management International Review.