From Physical Production to the Provision of Performance-Based Services.
—— Revitalizing the Japanese economy through a paradigm shift in public investment and private sector business transformation.
We are moving away from an era that found value in the mere purchase and ownership of goods, characterized by a 'build-and-leave-it' mentality. Instead, by clarifying the difference between owning an asset and realizing its actual value, the world is shifting toward an era of purchasing the functions of assets as a service.
However, Japan's current economic revitalization is being driven by traditional government-led investment, with an overemphasis on the value of physical production (Monozukuri). As a result, private companies—which should inherently be generating innovation through competitive principles—have lost their incentive to change, falling into a 'boiling frog' syndrome.
This is exactly the result of a persistent 'misalignment from the outset' in Public-Private Partnerships, where the proper roles of the public and private sectors are incorrectly defined.
Office Kumagae supports the structuring of sustainable business schemes as lasting 'systems'—critical for driving economic growth in a new era and ensuring a legacy for the next generation.
The Challenge: Why does Japan's economic stagnation persist?
As the global economy transitions to a new growth framework rooted in performance-based services and private investment, Japan remains trapped in its past successes, overly fixated on traditional manufacturing and public investment.
The fundamental cause of this stagnation is a structural disconnect.
In Western countries: BPR that drove private sector structural reform, and the true Public-Private Partnerships established by the governments that supported it:
In the 1980s and 90s, amidst intensifying global competition in the manufacturing sector, Western companies adopted BPR (Business Process Re-engineering) to counter Japan's manufacturing excellence. The essence of BPR was to completely redesign corporate business processes and outsource non-core domains, thereby maximizing the added value of their core competencies.
Enterprises implementing outsourcing demanded that their service providers deliver 1) cost reductions and 2) quality improvements simultaneously. This necessitated a framework for standardizing outsourced services and assessing them by their outcomes.
During this same period, Western countries introduced public infrastructure service procurement models such as PPP/PFI, with the public sector taking the lead in standardizing Performance-Based Service Business. The performance-linked contracting methods established in public procurement were subsequently applied to private-sector outsourcing, leading to the rapid spread of systems that manage service quality through KPIs.
This new service model transformed the 'unstable characteristics' inherent in traditional services—namely, 1) intangibility, 2) heterogeneity, 3) inseparability, and 4) perishability—into a manageable business through standardization and performance metrics. As a result, in Western countries, the service procurement business accelerated even in business-to-business (B2B) transactions. This led to the continuous creation of high-value-added services, which became a new source of GDP growth.
This is precisely why it is called a 'Public-Private Partnership' (PPP): by dividing their respective roles in the reengineering of business processes (BPR), the public and private sectors successfully established a framework that generates a higher dimension of added value.
Structural Challenges in Japan's Private Sector (The Private Sector Trap): Failure to Adopt BPR Due to Fixation on Existing Business Models
Meanwhile, Japanese companies focused on improving manufacturing, attempting to enhance added value through the 'deepening of in-house production.' While companies like Toyota were exceptional cases that successfully heightened their competitiveness through internalization, most companies did not outsource their non-core domains. Consequently, performance-based service businesses failed to develop domestically.
Structural Challenges in Japan's Public Sector (The Public Sector Trap): The Limits of the 'Build-and-Done' Approach in Public Infrastructure Investment
Furthermore, rather than understanding the essence of service procurement through BPR as 'performance-based services,' the Japanese government misconstrued PFI as a system that enables Deferred Payment. As a result, PFI—which should ideally integrate private investment for facility development with performance-based services—has been operated as a mere 'deferred payment scheme for construction.' Consequently, the standardization of service performance remains unestablished as an institutional framework to this day.
While further integration with economic growth mechanisms driven by BPR (Business Process Innovation) is expected, we must recognize a stark reality: the public sector continues to drive massive investments on its own, leaving infrastructure and public services in a 'build-and-done' state, ultimately lacking the perspective needed to build a foundation for long-term economic growth.
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Office Kumagae confronts this structural stagnation head-on, providing advisory services to implement fundamental solutions (know-how) through the dual engines of the public and private sectors.
The Solution Framework: A Virtuous Cycle Driven by the Dual Engines of the Public and Private Sectors
The objective of Office Kumagae's support is not one-off financing or the mere reduction of initial costs. Rather, it is the construction of a business scheme as an 'institutional framework'—one where the procurer and the contractor enter into an optimal contract based on game theory, ensuring long-term service quality and creating a legacy reliably passed down to the next generation.
Currently, the government is proceeding with the introduction of large-scale public investment schemes in an effort to establish a sustainable growth cycle. However, it relies too heavily on its traditional manufacturing strengths, rooted in a 'build-and-done' mentality, and lacks the perspective of creating new businesses through the redesign of processes.
Japan's manufacturing excellence is highly acclaimed worldwide. For this very reason, this inherent strength should ideally be transformed into the service economy as the capability to guarantee long-term service quality. However, current public investments fail to foster the development of the service sector—an industry experiencing sustained growth globally—which serves as a contributing factor to the relative stagnation of the Japanese economy. If the public administration continues to execute public investments based on conventional thinking, private enterprises will remain unable to break free from their existing business models. Consequently, a prolonged impasse where no viable solutions can be found is likely to persist, leaving them trapped in a 'sell-and-done' structure.
The starting point for this change is a paradigm shift in the public sector. It is essential to fundamentally overhaul the existing Japanese-style PFI (facility development via deferred payment) and transition to an outcome-focused Performance Based Service Procurement (PBSP). Doing so will create a market where private operators can formulate bankable projects, thereby promoting private investment in public works.
If the public sector presents appropriate business opportunities and risk allocation, private companies can transform into a model that balances the 'long-term enhancement of service quality' with 'securing appropriate returns,' all while leveraging their manufacturing strengths. In other words, they can expand their manufacturing strength into a 'strength in service quality.
When the public sector demonstrates a growth model driven by BPR (Business Process Re-engineering), it triggers a paradigm shift within private enterprises, inducing a transition toward output-oriented business models. Only through this integration of 'manufacturing and services' can the sustainable growth of the Japanese economy truly be realized.
Officie Kumagaeは、「官側の考え方の見直し」と、「民側の成果志向サービス調達構築」の双方の支援を行います。
業務方針
官民連携（PPP / PFI）やサービス調達は、単なる官民で協力する事業スキームではありません。
公共サービスを民間のGoing Concern(会社が将来にわたって事業継続していくとの前提）に基づいた長期にわたって安定的に提供するサービスに転換するための「制度構築」です。
政府が引き受けるべきリスクと、民間に委ねることが合理的なリスクを明確に区分し、サービスの質を長期的に維持・向上させる制度設計を支援します。事業を成立させること自体を目的とするのではなく、次の契約期間へと引き継がれていく仕組みを構築することが、私たちの目的です。
Office Kumagaeは、本来日本の企業が得意とするパフォーマンスの継続を、過度なリスクをとることなしにシステム化することによって、これまでのビジネスモデルでは構築できなかった発注者と受託者がそれぞれ最適な契約形態がとれるように、ゲーム理論に基づいて最適解を構築することを支援します。
代表プロフィール
熊谷 弘志（Hiroshi Kumagae） Office Kumagae 代表 / PPP・インフラ事業構築専門家
1984年の清水建設入社以来、約40年にわたり国内外のインフラ開発および官民連携（PPP/PFI）の最前線で活動。PwC、KPMG、アビームコンサルティング等のグローバルファームにて公共セクター向けディレクターを歴任後、2013年にOffice Kumagaeを設立。クラウンエイジェンツ・ジャパンにて、事業運営権対応型無償資金のスキームを活用したPPP事業を海外で展開。直近ではJICA専門家としてインドネシア公共事業省インフラ財務総局（DGIF)に赴任し、LVC（Land Value Capture：土地価値還元）統合型モデルや統合型MRG（Minimum Revenue Guarantee）パッケージ等を用いた、実現性の高いインフラファイナンススキームの構築を主導した。 APMG認定PPPプロフェッショナル（CP3P：Certified PPP Professional）Foundation有資格者であり、公式ガイド日本語版のチーフ翻訳者も務める。国内外のPPP事業の発展と人材育成に長年貢献している。
主な実績・専門領域
- インフラファイナンス・PPPアドバイザリー： 大規模有料道路、水道、廃棄物発電等におけるバンカブルな事業スキーム構築およびリスク配分設計、KPIの構築とその指標の支払いメカニズムへの組み込み。
- 公共経営改革（BPR）： 中央・地方自治体における指定管理者制度導入支援、図書館・庁舎整備等の基本計画策定およびアウトソーシング戦略の立案。
- 制度設計・人材育成： CP3P認定研修プログラムの企画・実行、各国政府へのPPP法的枠組み提案。
略歴
- 青山学院大学 経営学部卒 / ESADEビジネススクール 国際経営修士（MIM）取得
- 清水建設株式会社（海外事業本部、海外拠点CFO等を歴任）
- PwC、KPMG、アビームコンサルティングにて公共セクター ディレクターを歴任
- クラウンエイジェンツ・ジャパン株式会社 上級顧問
- JICA専門家（インドネシア公共事業省 PPPアドバイザリー）
資格・著書等
- APMG認定 CP3P Foundation 取得
- 著書：単著
- 脱「日本版PFI」のススメ令和編 急がれるサービス調達型への転換（日刊建設工業新聞社）ISBN- 978-4809686733
- 脱「日本版PFI」のススメ: リスク移転で解き明かすPFIの真の姿（日刊建設工業新聞社）ISBN- 978-4782407059
- 著書：共著
- 公的組織の経営改善ハンドブック（中央経済社）ISBN- 978-4502397400
- 指定管理者制度-文化的公共性を支えるのは誰か（時事通信社）ISBN- 978-4788706613
- 寄稿多数