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

We may not be able to make you love reading, but archaeology of knowledge will lead you to love reading starting from now. Book is the window to open the new world. The world that you want is in the better stage and level. World will always guide you to even the prestige stage of the life. You know, this is some of how reading will give you the kindness. In this case, more books you read more knowledge you know, but it can mean also the bore is full.

The archaeology of knowledge

หนงสอเรอง การออกแบบการวจย: วธการวจยเชงคณภาพ วธการวจยเชงปรมาณ และวธการวจยแบบผสม (Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Method Approaches) เปนหนงสอทเรยบเรยงเพออธบายเกยวกบความแตกตางของกระบวนทศนการวจยทง 2 แบบ ไดแก การวจย เชงปรมาณ และการวจยเชงคณภาพ และความจำเปนของประเดนปญหาการวจยทตองนำกระบวนทศนทง 2 มารวมกนหาขอคนพบเพอนำไปสผลการวจยทสามารถนำผลการวจยไปใชประโยชนไดอยางจรงมากยงขน เรยกวา “การวจยแบบผสมผสาน” ซงเปนหนงสอทอธบายวธการวจยทง 2 ประเภทไดอยางชดเจน และการรวมกนของกระบวนทศนการวจยทง 2 แบบอยางลงตว

Research Design: Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Method Approaches

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

Knowledge Management

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate how large UK construction organisations manage their knowledge assets. It then proposes STEPS, a mechanism for benchmarking organisation's knowledge management maturity.Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts a case study methodology using four large UK construction organisations.Findings – The investigation shows that the UK‐based companies with international operations are ahead of their national counterparts in their KM implementation efforts. The paper concludes that construction organisations are likely to be successful in implementing KM if appropriate considerations are given to strategy formulation, implementation issues addressed and the link between KM and business strategy is strengthened.Originality/value – The paper proposes a mechanism, entitled STEPS, for benchmarking the maturity of large construction organisations' knowledge management practices. It then uses case study organisations to demonstrate how the STEPS model should be used.

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Knowledge management practices in large construction organisations

Value for money in a PFI project depends crucially on performance monitoring to provide incentives for improvement and to ensure that service delivery is in accordance with the output specification. However, the effectiveness of performance monitoring and output specification cannot be fully assessed until PFI projects become operational. There is a need to examine the role of the performance monitoring mechanism in ensuring that ‘value for money’ is achieved throughout the delivery of services. Based on semi‐structured interviews with key stakeholders from the public and private sectors, the case studies suggest that there are low levels of performance deductions in PFI projects during the operational phase. However, the complexity of performance measurement, inadequate resources for performance monitoring and the difficulties in the interpretation of the output specification raise questions as to whether the low level of deductions truly reflect the actual level of services delivered. There is also evid...

Service delivery and performance monitoring in PFI/PPP projects

A number of organisations have recognised the importance of managing their organisation knowledge in a more structured manner. However, the question arises as to how to evaluate the benefits of a Knowledge Management (KM) strategy and its associated initiatives on the performance of the organisation. This paper presents a framework for the assessment of the likely impact of KM and discusses findings from an evaluation workshop held to critique the framework.

IMPaKT: A Framework for Linking Knowledge Management to Business Performance

Construction as a Knowledge-Based Industry

The UK's Private Finance Initiative market is predicted to rise to over £8 billion a year and there are indications of growing opportunities. PFI creates a long‐term income stream and provides valuable opportunities for portfolio diversification. PFI has evolved at a fast pace and the momentum is set to continue. However, there are major challenges facing construction organisations. These include the lack of PFI experts, longer negotiation periods and tight time schedules to deliver large‐scale schemes, high levels of investment and risks involved and limited knowledge transfer between PFI projects. Concerns over the level of knowledge sharing have prompted the development and evaluation of a Knowledge Transfer Framework that encourages construction organisations to transfer PFI knowledge between projects. It achieves this by building on a questionnaire survey of PFI clients and construction companies, case studies of companies involved in PFI, and research workshops to validate the framework developed.

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Herbert Robinson

Papers

Knowledge management practices in large construction organisations

Service delivery and performance monitoring in PFI/PPP projects

IMPaKT: A Framework for Linking Knowledge Management to Business Performance

Construction as a Knowledge-Based Industry

A knowledge transfer framework: the PFI context