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This article takes a close look at the ways US, Israeli, and Irish policy makers have addressed the start‐up equity‐financing gap. US policy makers have been indirect, providing funds and creating the regime conducive to the growth of the private venture capital industry. Israeli policy makers have been less indirect, taking equity positions in start‐ups, and in venture capital funds in partnership with the private sector. Irish policy makers have been direct, setting up and managing start‐up venture capital funds.

Responding to Michael Porter’s claim that “Japanese companies rarely have a strategy”, this paper argues that the competitive advantage of Japanese enterprises is not to be found in traditional practices. Rather, it is due to the way these practices are upgraded and reinforced by ideological factors such as the “community of fate”, as well as the formation of governance structures that cultivate the development of contextual knowledge that leads to the efficient and effective production of complex products.