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

This handbook looks to provide academics and students with a comprehensive and holistic understanding of the phenomenon of innovation. Innovation spans a number of fields within the social sciences and humanities: Management, Economics, Geography, Sociology, Politics, Psychology, and History. Consequently, the rapidly increasing body of literature on innovation is characterized by a multitude of perspectives based on, or cutting across, existing disciplines and specializations. Scholars of innovation can come from such diverse starting points that much of this literature can be missed, and so constructive dialogues missed. The editors of The Oxford Handbook of Innovation have carefully selected and designed twenty-one contributions from leading academic experts within their particular field, each focusing on a specific aspect of innovation. These have been organized into four main sections, the first of which looks at the creation of innovations, with particular focus on firms and networks. Section Two provides an account of the wider systematic setting influencing innovation and the role of institutions and organizations in this context. Section Three explores some of the diversity in the working of innovation over time and across different sectors of the economy, and Section Four focuses on the consequences of innovation with respect to economic growth, international competitiveness, and employment. An introductory overview, concluding remarks, and guide to further reading for each chapter, make this handbook a key introduction and vital reference work for researchers, academics, and advanced students of innovation. Contributors to this volume - Jan Fagerberg, University of Oslo William Lazonick, INSEAD Walter W. Powell, Stanford University Keith Pavitt, SPRU Alice Lam, Brunel University Keith Smith, INTECH Charles Edquist, Linkoping David Mowery, University of California, Berkeley Mary O'Sullivan, INSEAD Ove Granstrand, Chalmers Bjorn Asheim, University of Lund Rajneesh Narula, Copenhagen Business School Antonello Zanfei, Urbino Kristine Bruland, University of Oslo Franco Malerba, University of Bocconi Nick Von Tunzelmann, SPRU Ian Miles, University of Manchester Bronwyn Hall, University of California, Berkeley Bart Verspagen , ECIS Francisco Louca, ISEG Manuel M. Godinho, ISEG Richard R. Nelson, Mario Pianta, Urbino Bengt-Ake Lundvall, Aalborg

The Oxford Handbook of Innovation

▶ Addresses a wide range of timely environment, economic and energy topics ▶ A forum to review, analyze and stimulate the development, testing and implementation of mitigation and adaptation strategies at regional, national and global scales ▶ Contributes to real-time policy analysis and development as national and international policies and agreements are discussed and promulgated ▶ 94% of authors who answered a survey reported that they would definitely publish or probably publish in the journal again

Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change

The aim of this paper is to advance research on sustainable innovation by adopting a business model perspective. Through a confrontation of the literature on both topics we find that research on sustainable innovation has tended to neglect the way in which firms need to combine a value proposition, the organization of the upstream and downstream value chain, and a financial model, in order to bring sustainability innovations to the market. Therefore, we review the current literature on business models in the contexts of technological, organizational, and social sustainability innovations. As the current literature does not offer a general conceptual definition of sustainable business models, we propose examples of normative 'boundary conditions' that business models should meet in order to support sustainable innovations. Finally, we sketch the outline of a research agenda by formulating a number of guiding questions.

Business Models for Sustainable Innovation: State of the Art and Steps Towards a Research Agenda

Diversity of eco-innovations: Reflections from selected case studies

Globalizing carbon lock-in

Foreword Introduction 1.1 Sustainability versus competitiveness? 1.2 Towards sustainability AND competitiveness through eco-innovation 1.3 How to read this book What is Eco-innovation? 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Defining eco-innovation 2.3 Dimensions of eco-innovation 2.4 Dashboard of eco-innovation 2.5 Discussion Barriers to Eco-innovation 3.1 Introduction 3.2 How can we classify the barriers to (and drivers of) eco-innovation? Policy Strategies to Promote Eco-innovation 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Why should eco-innovation be promoted publicly? 4.3 What should the main elements of a policy approach to promote eco-innovation be? 4.4 What types of specific measures are out there? 4.5 What measures are more appropriate for tackling specific barriers to eco-innovation? 4.6 What measures are most appropriate for promoting specific types of eco-innovation? Business Strategies for Eco-innovation 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Design dimensions of eco-innovation 5.3 User dimensions of eco-innovation 5.4 Product service dimensions in eco-innovation 5.5 Corporate governance for eco-innovation 5.6 Conclusions Eco-innovation in practice 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Case 1: Ecocement 6.3 Case 2: Automated vacuum system for waste collection 6.4 Case 3: High speed train system 6.5 Case 4: EcoWorx, carpet backing 6.6 Case 5: Carbon Capture and Storage 6.7 Case 6: Hybrid Synergy Drive 6.8 Case 7: Green Hotel Project Conclusions

Eco-Innovation: When Sustainability and Competitiveness Shake Hands

Firms are influenced by internal factors (resources and capabilities) and external factors (e.g., regulation) when taking the decision to eco‐innovate. However, the analysis of the internal factors has received much less attention than the external ones. This paper aims to fill this gap in the literature by analyzing the role of resources, competences, and dynamic capabilities (RCCs) as determinants (drivers and barriers) of different eco‐innovation (EI) types. Those EI types contribute differently to the sustainable transition of the economy and society, that is, towards the circular economy. The statistical analyses reveal that RCCs are quite relevant as determinants of EIs, and that different RCCs are more or less relevant for different EI types. In particular, the determinants of systemic and radical EIs substantially differ from those for continuous improvements. Our results suggest that physical RCCs, involvement in green supply chains, an EI‐friendly corporate culture, technology‐push and market‐pull, and internal financing resources represent drivers to these EIs, whereas cooperation, organizational learning, an ISO (International Organization for Standardization) ecological certification, and technological path dependency are barriers. The results may guide firms to pursue competitive and sustainable advantage by innovating through certain EI types corresponding to available and dedicated RCCs. They may also be useful to policy makers who are willing to promote specific EI types.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/bse.2246

Drivers and barriers of eco-innovation types for sustainable transitions: A quantitative perspective

The previous chapter analyzed the different drivers of and barriers to eco-innovation. In this chapter the aim is to identify those policy features and measures that can be implemented in order to help remove those barriers (or encourage the drivers) and enhance the uptake of eco-innovations. In order to do so, we have taken into account the theoretical and empirical literature on environmentally sound techno-institutional change, as well as certain policies currently implemented in the EU, the US and elsewhere.1 After justifying in section 4.2 why eco-innovation should be promoted publicly, section 4.3 outlines the policy approach to promote eco-innovations. Section 4.4 is devoted to the pinpointing of specific measures, whereas the following sections (4.5 and 4.6, respectively) discuss the most appropriate measures for tackling specific barriers to eco-innovation and how different types of eco-innovations are more likely to be promoted with different instruments. The chapter closes with some concluding remarks.

Javier Carrillo-Hermosilla

Papers

Diversity of eco-innovations: Reflections from selected case studies

Globalizing carbon lock-in

Eco-Innovation: When Sustainability and Competitiveness Shake Hands

Drivers and barriers of eco-innovation types for sustainable transitions: A quantitative perspective

Policy Strategies to Promote Eco-Innovation