How has Japan become a major economic power, a world leader in the automotive and electronics industries? What is the secret of their success? The consensus has been that, though the Japanese are not particularly innovative, they are exceptionally skilful at imitation, at improving products that already exist. But now two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hiro Takeuchi, turn this conventional wisdom on its head: Japanese firms are successful, they contend, precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. Examining case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, 3M, GE, and the U.S. Marines, this book reveals how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge and use it to produce new processes, products, and services.

The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

How have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries, among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge, contained in manuals and procedures, and tacit knowledge, learned only by experience, and communicated only indirectly, through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese, on the other hand, focus on tacit knowledge. And this, the authors argue, is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge. To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism, from classical economists to modern management gurus, illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda, Canon, Matsushita, NEC, Nissan, 3M, GE, and even the U.S. Marines. For instance, using Matsushita's development of the Home Bakery (the world's first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use), they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldn't perfect the dough kneading mechanism, a software programmer apprenticed herself withthe master baker at Osaka International Hotel, gained a tacit understanding of kneading, and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition, the authors show that, to create knowledge, the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but rather what they call "middle-up-down," in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century, a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the "knowledge society," one that is drastically different from the "industrial society," and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further, arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future. Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly, knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company, managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously, and how to exploit it to make successful new products, services, and systems.

The knowledge-creating company

Feel lonely? What about reading books? Book is one of the greatest friends to accompany while in your lonely time. When you have no friends and activities somewhere and sometimes, reading book can be a great choice. This is not only for spending the time, it will increase the knowledge. Of course the b=benefits to take will relate to what kind of book that you are reading. And now, we will concern you to try reading models of man as one of the reading material to finish quickly.

Models of man

Highlights?Exploring the effect Knowledge sharing (KS) have on innovation and firm performance. ?Confirming the mediating role of innovation between KS and performance. ?finding that explicit KS impacts innovation speed more than financial performance. ?finding that tacit KS impacts innovation quality more than operational performance. This study investigates the quantitative relationship between knowledge sharing, innovation and performance. Based on the literature review, we develop a research model positing that knowledge sharing not only have positive relationship with performance directly but also influence innovation which in turn contributes to firm performance. This model is empirically tested using data collected from 89 high technology firms in Jiangsu Province of China. It is found that both explicit and tacit knowledge sharing practices facilitate innovation and performance. Explicit knowledge sharing has more significant effects on innovation speed and financial performance while tacit knowledge sharing has more significant effects on innovation quality and operational performance.

Knowledge sharing, innovation and firm performance

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to investigate the impact of knowledge sharing (KS) on firm performance and the mediating role of intellectual capital (IC). Design/methodology/approach – A research model was developed based on prior KS and IC studies. A survey was administered to a sample of high technology firms in China and 228 usable responses were collected. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the research model. Findings – Tacit KS significantly was found to contribute to all three components of IC, namely human, structural and relational capital, while explicit KS only has a significant influence on human and structural capital. Human, structural and relational capital, enhance both operational and financial performance of firms. The effect of KS on firm performance is mediated by IC. Explicit KS has a greater effect on financial performance than operational performance, whereas tacit KS has a greater impact on operational performance than financial performance. Research limit...

Knowledge sharing, intellectual capital and firm performance

This paper shows the link between knowledge creation and individual learning, and the coherence that exists between the knowledge creation view and single and double-loop learning models. It does so by examining differences in levels of knowledge and their relationship with creativity and knowledge creating behaviours. The analysis shifts the focus from the abstract notion of tacit knowledge to a more specific discussion on creative human cognition. The paper is unique in adopting an endogenous perspective to the analysis of individual learning. The analysis is distinct from previous discussions on knowledge creation in three ways: (a) explicit and tacit knowledge are analysed in terms of the nature and degree of inter-dependence that exists between the two; (b) knowledge levels are defined in terms of their applications rather than as abstract concepts; and (c) a distinction is made between shifts and movements in knowledge to separate, and subsequently integrate, the information processing and creative dimensions of learning. Further, the paper highlights specific challenges and limitations/costs that are associated with the transfer/acquisition of knowledge levels, and argues that in the absence of a conscious effort, knowledge levels are acquired through mistakes and failures. Following that, various theoretical and managerial implications to facilitate knowledge creation are discussed.

Knowledge Levels and Their Transformation: Towards the Integration of Knowledge Creation and Individual Learning

 This paper shows the link between knowledge creation and individual learning, and the coherence that exists between the knowledge creation view and single and double-loop learning models. It does so by examining differences in levels of knowledge and their relationship with creativity and knowledge creating behaviours. The analysis shifts the focus from the abstract notion of tacit knowledge to a more specific discussion on creative human cognition. The paper is unique in adopting an endogenous perspective to the analysis of individual learning. The analysis is distinct from previous discussions on knowledge creation in three ways: (a) explicit and tacit knowledge are analysed in terms of the nature and degree of interdependence that exists between the two; (b) knowledge levels are defined in terms of their applications rather than as abstract concepts; and (c) a distinction is made between shifts and movements in knowledge to separate, and subsequently integrate, the information processing and creative dimensions of learning. Further, the paper highlights specific challenges and limitations/costs that are associated with the transfer/acquisition of knowledge levels, and argues that in the absence of a conscious effort, knowledge levels are acquired through mistakes and failures. Following that, various theoretical and managerial implications to facilitate knowledge creation are discussed.

Knowledge Levels and their Transformation: Towards the Integration of Knowledge Creation and Individual Learning*

Organizational knowledge creation, as reflected in new product/service development, is a vital process for firms to master. Critical to the development of new products/services is the management of the front-end phase, which crucially determines the eventual fate of a new product/service idea. However, studies on how knowledge is created at the front-end of the new product development process are rare. This empirical paper addresses this gap by focusing on knowledge conceptualization - where new knowledge from its generation is crystallized into a concrete and explicit form. Employing a qualitative methodology, the paper examines ten discontinuous projects and develops a front-end knowledge conceptualization framework. The framework consists of the identified knowledge conceptualization stages and illuminates the pattern of overlaps, outcomes, contributors, knowledge, interactions and volatility across each stage. Our main contribution is a knowledge-based appreciation of the dynamic and interactive nature of the new product/service development's front-end phase in the context of discontinuous innovations, and thence the paper provides clear managerial learning points for the effective management of this phase. © 2012 The Author(s). British Journal of Management © 2012 British Academy of Management.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/bjom801.pdf?abstractid=2259444&mirid=1&type=2

An Exploration of New Product Development's Front‐end Knowledge Conceptualization Process in Discontinuous Innovations

This article develops and tests absorptive capacity’s relationship with one of its important forerunners – systems thinking – which, although postulated as an important element, has received little empirical attention in the absorptive capacity literature. Our contribution lies in the introduction of unique pathways through which systems thinking influences absorptive capacity and how it affects various interrelated dimensions of high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises’ performance, by examining evidence from South Korea’s semiconductor industry.

Hammad Akbar

Papers

Knowledge Levels and Their Transformation: Towards the Integration of Knowledge Creation and Individual Learning

Knowledge Levels and their Transformation: Towards the Integration of Knowledge Creation and Individual Learning*

An Exploration of New Product Development's Front‐end Knowledge Conceptualization Process in Discontinuous Innovations

Systems thinking and absorptive capacity in high-tech small and medium-sized enterprises from South Korea

Project-conceptualisation in technological innovations: A knowledge-based perspective