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

Porter and Ketels' (2003) study of British competitiveness emphasised the importance of business networking for innovativeness. Until recently insights into the dynamics of this relationship have been fragmented. This paper presents a systematic review of research linking the networking behaviour of firms with their innovative capacity. We find that the principal benefits of networking as identified in the literature include, risk sharing; obtaining access to new markets and technologies; speeding products to market; pooling complementary skills; safeguarding property rights when complete or contingent contracts are not possible; and acting as a key vehicle for obtaining access to external knowledge. The evidence also illustrates that those firms which do not cooperate and which do not formally or informally exchange knowledge limit their knowledge base on a long-term basis and ultimately reduce their ability to enter into exchange relationships. At an institutional level, national systems of innovation play an important role in the diffusion of innovations in terms of the way in which they shape networking activity. The paper provides evidence suggesting that network relationships with suppliers, customers, and intermediaries such as professional and trade associations are important factors affecting innovation performance and productivity. Where networks fail it is due to inter-firm conflict, displacement, lack of scale, external disruption and lack of infrastructure. The review identifies several gaps in the literature that need to be filled. For instance, there is a need for further exploration of the relationship between networking and different forms of innovation, such as, process and organisational innovation. Similarly, we need better understanding of network dynamics and network configurations, as well as the role of third parties such as professional and trade associations. Our study highlights the need for inter-disciplinary research in these areas.

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Networking and innovation: a systematic review of the evidence

Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge

Premises of creation of Internet portal designed to provide access to participants of educational and scientific process for the joint creation, consolidation, concentration and rapid spreading of educational and scientific information resources in its own depository are considered. CMS-based portal content management systems’ potentiality is investigated. Architecture for Internet portal of MES of Ukraine’s information resources is offered.

Створення порталу інформаційно-довідкових ресурсів міністерства освіти і науки україни

In this paper, the state of research on the assessment of competencies in higher education is reviewed. Fundamental conceptual and methodological issues are clarified by showing that current controversies are built on misleading dichotomies. By systematically sketching conceptual controversies, competing competence definitions are unpacked (analytic/trait vs. holistic/real-world performance) and common- places are identified. Disagreements are also highlighted. Similarly, competing statistical approaches to assessing competencies, namely item- response theory (latent trait) versus generalizability theory (sampling error variance), are unpacked. The resulting framework moves beyond dichotomies and shows how the different approaches complement each other. Competence is viewed along a continuum from traits that underlie perception, interpretation, and decision-making skills, which in turn give rise to observed behavior in real-world situations. Statistical approaches are also viewed along a continuum from linear to nonlinear models that serve different purposes. Item response theory (IRT) models may be used for scaling item responses and modeling structural relations, and generalizability theory (GT) models pinpoint sources of measurement error variance, thereby enabling the design of reliable measurements. The proposed framework suggests multiple new research studies and may serve as a ''grand'' structural model.

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Beyond dichotomies: Competence viewed as a continuum

In the Dutch Vocational Education and Training (VET) system, competence-based education is the leading paradigm for innovation, both at the system level and at the level of learning environments. This article provides an historical analysis of the development of competence-based education in various countries and explores the concept of competence and its popularity. Possible pitfalls with respect to the concept of competence, standardisation, school and workplace learning, determining learning activities, assessment of competencies, changing teacher roles/identity and competence-based management will be discussed. Taking these pitfalls into account, roads for future development will be sketched. A learning policy connecting governance, practice and research is believed to be the most fruitful way to develop flexible VET systems that are suited to the emerging knowledge-based economy.

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Competence-based VET in the Netherlands: background and pitfalls

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to get a clear view on how can we judge groups in relation to the characteristics of a community of practice (CoP), and the presence of collective learning in these groups.Design/methodology/approach – A review of literature on collective learning and CoPs led to the development of a conceptual model, which was tested through case study research against empirical data from three groups in organizations.Findings – The groups differed concerning group characteristics, but also concerning the collective learning processes and learning outcomes present. The group that can be characterized as a CoP learns a lot, but the (learning) processes in the group are not always in favour of the organizational learning process.Research limitations/implications – The conceptual framework was helpful to evaluate the characteristics of CoPs in relation to collective learning. These findings suggest that it will be interesting to expand the model, for example with consideration to th...

Communities of practice as stimulating forces for collective learning

This article concerns agricultural entrepreneurs involved in organising their learning so as to develop innovative and learning enterprises. In hi-tech sectors, such as Dutch agriculture, this learning and innovative capacity is particularly essential for economic survival. Reviewing the literature, we conclude that innovation can be seen as informal learning processes, in which social networks play an important role. Workers learn by sharing knowledge in the working team and employers learn by creating networks of colleagues and advisers. The results of two research projects suggest that interactive learning and innovation should be analysed from a perspective of uncertainty. Learning skills for interactive innovation, as part of the entrepreneurial craft, should comprise the capability of selecting impulses and combining newly selected impulses with existing skills and routines. Paradoxically, they need new impulses from weak, unknown networks to be continuously innovative. Innovative learning involves balancing the chaos of uncertainty with the old grooves of experience. Knowing how to escape this paradox forms the core competence of innovative entrepreneurship.

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Learning Entrepreneurs: Learning and Innovation in Small Companies

Purpose – This paper aims to generate both a theoretical and an empirical basis for a research model that serves in further research as an analytical tool for understanding the complex phenomenon of learning at different levels in a work organisation. The key concept in this model is the routine concept of Nelson and Winter.Design/methodology/approach – A review of the literature in the academic fields of educational sciences, industrial sciences, economics, social psychology and sociology is used to develop a conceptual model that could serve as an analytical instrument to describe the ongoing dynamics, i.e. learning processes at different levels. The theoretical findings were tested against empirical data of an industrial bakery in order to evaluate if the theoretical concepts help to identify possible mechanisms that account for parallel learning processes at different levels.Findings – The paper gives an overview of possible key concepts that helps in explaining what happens at the intersection betwee...

Learning routines in innovation processes

To meet the requirements of an increasingly innovative and competitive environment, workers need to continuously develop and maintain competence. Consequently, initial vocational education and trai...

Loek Nieuwenhuis

Papers

Competence-based VET in the Netherlands: background and pitfalls

Communities of practice as stimulating forces for collective learning

Learning Entrepreneurs: Learning and Innovation in Small Companies

Learning routines in innovation processes

Apprenticeship: from learning theory to practice