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

Social Network Analysis

The importance of performance measurement has long been recognized by academics and practitioners from a variety of functional disciplines. Seeks to bring together this diverse body of knowledge into a coherent whole. To ensure that the key issues are identified, focuses on the process of performance measurement system design, rather than the detail of specific measures. Following a comprehensive review of the literature, proposes a research agenda.

Performance measurement system design: A literature review and research agenda

How to ... be a reflective practitioner.

This paper consolidates the state of academic research on innovation. Based on a systematic review of literature published over the past 27 years, we synthesize various research perspectives into a comprehensive multi-dimensional framework of organizational innovation - linking leadership, innovation as a process, and innovation as an outcome. We also suggest measures of determinants of organizational innovation and present implications for both research and managerial practice.

A Multi‐Dimensional Framework of Organizational Innovation: A Systematic Review of the Literature

A fundamental methodological question guides this paper: How can operations managers and researchers learn from the applied activity that characterises the practice of OM? To address this question, defines and explores the legitimacy of an action‐oriented research approach in OM, and the particular logic and value of applying action research (AR) to the description and understanding of issues in OM. Begins with a review of the role of empirical research in OM and how AR features within the OM research literature. Introduces the theory and practice of AR and outlines the AR cycle and how AR is implemented. Finally, describes the skills required to engage in AR and explores issues in generating theory. Concludes with the assertion that AR is relevant and valid for the discipline of OM in its ability to address the operational realities experienced by practising managers while simultaneously contributing to knowledge.

Action research for operations management

Development of a technical innovation audit

Competition today is forcing companies to increase their effectiveness through exploiting synergy and learning in product innovation. Literature, however, is still mainly focused on how product development projects, seen largely as isolated efforts, should be organised and managed. This article proposes a model to describe and explain how companies can gain a substantive competitive advantage by extending their innovation efforts to other phases of the product life cycle and by facilitating knowledge transfer and learning both within the company and with other partner organisations. The model is based on collaborative research by the authors, based on their involvement in the Euro-Australian co-operation project CIMA (Euro-Australian co-operation centre for Continuous Improvement and innovation MAnagement).

Knowledge and continuous innovation: The CIMA methodology

https://zenodo.org/record/28592/files/WPOL-D-12-00164_10.pdf

Energy recovery in the water industry using micro-hydropower: an opportunity to improve sustainability

Sets out to examine two questions: first, can an academic‐based approach contribute to benchmarking and self assessment and, second, can tools be developed for use in manufacturing, in particular those to do with technology management. Proposes and tests a procedure for developing and evaluating benchmarking tools and frameworks. Illustrates this with the development of an overall technology management framework and detailed frameworks and tools for process technology and innovation management.

Paul Coughlan

Papers

Action research for operations management

Development of a technical innovation audit

Knowledge and continuous innovation: The CIMA methodology

Energy recovery in the water industry using micro-hydropower: an opportunity to improve sustainability

Developing and Testing Benchmarking and Self‐assessment Frameworks in Manufacturing