Book•
The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation
01 Jan 1995-
TL;DR: In this article, Nonaka and Takeuchi argue that Japanese firms are successful precisely because they are innovative, because they create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies, and they reveal how Japanese companies translate tacit to explicit knowledge.
Abstract: 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.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: By utilizing previous studies, the researchers present an integrated view of how learning organization affects knowledge creation and transfer.
Abstract: This paper describes how knowledge is created and transferred in organizations. It also discuses conditions required in promoting knowledge creation, the techniques used to capture knowledge in organizations, the nature of learning organizations and how it can influence knowledge creation and transfer. By utilizing previous studies, the researchers present an integrated view of how learning organization affects knowledge creation and transfer.
80 citations
Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."
...Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) hold that conversion between tacit and explicit knowledge results in knowledge....
[...]
...Some scholars (Allee, 1997; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; O'Dell, O'Dell, Grayson, & Essaides, 1998; Sverlinger, 2000; Szulanski, 2000) have tried to simplify knowledge transfer and creation....
[...]
...In order to gain and create knowledge within organizations, members need to transform tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995)....
[...]
...Contrary to individual knowledge creation, organizational knowledge creation occurs when all four modes of the creation of knowledge are "organizationally" managed to achieve a continual cycle (Nonaka, Byosiere, Borucki, & Konno, 1994; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995)....
[...]
...…hard and soft (Huber, 1991), formal and informal (Conklin, 1996), proprietary, public, personal, and commonsense (Boisot, 1995), tacit and explicit (Argote & Ingram, 2000; Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995), embrained knowledge, embodied knowledge, embedded knowledge, and encoded knowledge (Blackler, 1995)....
[...]
TL;DR: A four-pronged approach toward enhancing knowledge contribution and reuse in organizations is suggested: 1) developing organizational trust; 2) facilitating intrinsic rewards for knowledge contribution, partly through organizational Trust; 3) the exercise of caution in the use of extrinsic rewards; and 4) the design of a KRS with a high level of searchability.
Abstract: Knowledge repository systems (KRSs) have gained popularity for enabling knowledge codification and reuse. This paper develops and tests a model of KRS success, including perceived KRS searchability, perceived KRS output quality, perceived usefulness, and user satisfaction, and examines how three aspects of social context (extrinsic rewards, intrinsic rewards, and organizational trust) affect these dimensions of KRS success. Empirical results from a survey of 141 KRS users in China and Singapore indicate that perceived KRS output quality depends on KRS searchability and the social context, perceived usefulness depends on perceived KRS output quality, and user satisfaction depends on perceived KRS output quality and perceived KRS searchability. However, the study provides some surprises: perceived KRS searchability only indirectly (through perceived KRS output quality) affects perceived usefulness, and the social context directly affects only perceived KRS output quality and not perceived usefulness. Our results suggest a four-pronged approach toward enhancing knowledge contribution and reuse in organizations: 1) developing organizational trust; 2) facilitating intrinsic rewards for knowledge contribution, partly through organizational trust; 3) the exercise of caution in the use of extrinsic rewards; and 4) the design of a KRS with a high level of searchability.
80 citations
Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."
...PREVIOUS studies have explicated two dimensions of knowledge in organizations: tacit and explicit [3], [25], [87]....
[...]
01 Jan 2008
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the sources of knowledge in an engineering firm in Australia and how it is organized and processed, and find that the absorbptive capacity of the firm to assimilate knowledge can encourage greater leverage for exploration potential leading to radical innovation; and reconfiguring exploitable knowledge for incremental improvements.
Abstract: In rapidly changing environments, organisations require dynamic
capabilities to integrate, build and reconfigure resources and competencies to
achieve continuous innovation. Although tangible resources are important to
promoting the firm’s ability to act, capabilities fundamentally rest in the
knowledge created and accumulated by the firm through human capital,
organisational routines, processes, practices and norms. The exploration for
new ideas, technologies and knowledge – to one side – and – on the other
one – the exploitation of existing and new knowledge is essential for
continuous innovation. Firms need to decide how best to allocate their scarce
resources for both activities and at the same time build dynamic capabilities to
keep up with changing market conditions. This in turn, is influenced by the
absorptive capacity of the firm to assimilate knowledge. This paper presents a
case study that investigates the sources of knowledge in an engineering firm in
Australia, and how it is organised and processed. As information pervades the
firm from both internal and external sources, individuals integrate knowledge
using both exploration and exploitation approaches. The findings illustrate that
absorptive capacity can encourage greater leverage for exploration potential
leading to radical innovation; and reconfiguring exploitable knowledge for
incremental improvements. This study provides an insight for managers in
quest of improving knowledge strategies and continuous innovation. It also
makes significant theoretical contributions to the literature through extending
the concepts of
80 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the relevance of interorganizational networks for the international performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in relation to the foreign market entry mode (FM...
Abstract: This study investigates the relevance of interorganizational networks for the international performance of small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in relation to the foreign market entry mode (FM...
80 citations
Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."
...Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) note that innovation is an information and knowledge intensive process....
[...]
TL;DR: The wide interactive use of the intranet referral system between secondary and primary care improved clinical effectiveness, lowered direct costs, increased productivity and was cost-effective.
Abstract: The clinical effectiveness and costs of telemedicine in improving the referral process from primary to secondary care were examined in an eight-month prospective, comparative study with one-year follow-up. The internal-medicine outpatient clinics of two Finnish district hospitals were compared--Peijas Hospital (PH) with telemedicine and Hyvinkaa Hospital (HH) without it. The three primary-care centres studied referred a total of 292 adult patients to the outpatient clinics. The population-based number of referrals to PH (7.5/1000) from primary-care centres was twice that to HH (3.8/1000). Thirty-seven per cent of referrals to PH included requests from general practitioners for on-line medical advice (teleconsultation). Forty-three per cent of the total number of intranet referrals resulted in outpatient visits at PH, compared with 79% in the outpatient clinic at HH. Only 18% of the patients receiving a teleconsultation ended up in the outpatient department of PH within one year. These visits were mainly due to progression of chronic disease. No deaths or missed diagnoses could be attributed to telemedicine, but one diagnosis was delayed. The direct costs of an outpatient clinic visit in internal medicine (EU211) were seven times greater per patient than for an e-mail consultation (EU32), with a marginal cost decrease of EU179 for every new intranet consultation. A cost-minimization analysis of the alternative interventions showed a net benefit of EU7876 in favour of the teleconsultation process. General practitioners sought an outpatient visit for 130 of their patients, and advice only for another 77. On-line advice was nonetheless given in 108 cases, and only 88 patient visits were arranged. Eleven referrals were declined. The cost difference between giving on-line medical advice for the 108 cases and a visit to the outpatient clinic for the other 88 was less costly (by EU4140) than investigating the 124 patients whose original clinic referrals to the PH were not declined. Productivity in the hospital increased over threefold by using e-mail consultations instead of traditional outpatient visits. The wide interactive use of the intranet referral system between secondary and primary care improved clinical effectiveness, lowered direct costs, increased productivity and was cost-effective.
80 citations
References
More filters
TL;DR: The objective of KMS is to support creation, transfer, and application of knowledge in organizations by promoting a class of information systems, referred to as knowledge management systems.
Abstract: Knowledge is a broad and abstract notion that has defined epistemological debate in western philosophy since the classical Greek era. In the past few years, however, there has been a growing interest in treating knowledge as a significant organizational resource. Consistent with the interest in organizational knowledge and knowledge management (KM), IS researchers have begun promoting a class of information systems, referred to as knowledge management systems (KMS). The objective of KMS is to support creation, transfer, and application of knowledge in organizations. Knowledge and knowledge management are complex and multi-faceted concepts. Thus, effective development and implementation of KMS requires a foundation in several rich literatures.
9,531 citations
TL;DR: This research suggests that a knowledge infrastructure consisting of technology, structure, and culture along with a knowledge process architecture of acquisition, conversion, application, and protection are essential organizational capabilities or "preconditions" for effective knowledge management.
Abstract: A hallmark of the new economy is the ability of organizations to realize economic value from their collection of knowledge assets as well as their assets of information, production distribution, and affiliation. Despite the competitive necessity of becoming a knowledge-based organization, senior managers have found it difficult to transform their firms through programs of knowledge management. This is particularly true if their organizations have long histories of process and a tradition of business success. This research examines the issue of effective knowledge management from the perspective of organizational capabilities. This perspective suggests that a knowledge infrastructure consisting of technology, structure, and culture along with a knowledge process architecture of acquisition, conversion, application, and protection are essential organizational capabilities or preconditions for effective knowledge management. Through analysis of surveys collected from over 300 senior executives, this research empirically models and uncovers key aspects of these dimensions. The results provide a basis for understanding the competitive predisposition of a firm as it enters a program of knowledge management.
4,646 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the nature of value co-creation in the context of service-dominant (S-D) logic and develop a conceptual framework for understanding and managing value cocreation.
Abstract: Central to service-dominant (S-D) logic is the proposition that the customer becomes a co-creator of value. This emphasizes the development of customer–supplier relationships through interaction and dialog. However, research to date suggests relatively little is known about how customers engage in the co-creation of value. In this article, the authors: explore the nature of value co-creation in the context of S-D logic; develop a conceptual framework for understanding and managing value co-creation; and utilize field-based research to illustrate practical application of the framework. This process-based framework provides a structure for customer involvement that takes account of key foundational propositions of S-D logic and places the customer explicitly at the same level of importance as the company as co-creators of value. Synthesis of diverse concepts from research on services, customer value and relationship marketing into a new process-based framework for co-creation provide new insights into managing the process of value co-creation.
3,114 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined how aspects of intellectual capital influenced various innovative capabilities in organizations and found that human, organizational, and social capital and their interrelationships selectively influenced incremental and radical innovative capabilities.
Abstract: We examined how aspects of intellectual capital influenced various innovative capabilities in organizations. In a longitudinal, multiple-informant study of 93 organizations, we found that human, organizational, and social capital and their interrelationships selectively influenced incremental and radical innovative capabilities. As anticipated, organizational capital positively influenced incremental innovative capability, while human capital interacted with social capital to positively influence radical innovative capability. Counter to our expectations, however, human capital by itself was negatively associated with radical innovative capability. Interestingly, social capital played a significant role in both types of innovation, as it positively influenced incremental and radical innovative capabilities. It is widely accepted that an organization’s capability to innovate is closely tied to its intellectual capital, or its ability to utilize its knowledge resources. Several studies have underscored how new products embody organizational knowledge (e.g., Stewart, 1997), described innovation as a
3,008 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors outline a perspective on knowing in practice which highlights the essential role of human action in knowing how to get things done in complex organizational work and suggest that the competence to do global product development is both collective and distributed, grounded in the everyday practices of organizational members.
Abstract: In this paper, I outline a perspective on knowing in practice which highlights the essential role of human action in knowing how to get things done in complex organizational work. The perspective suggests that knowing is not a static embedded capability or stable disposition of actors, but rather an ongoing social accomplishment, constituted and reconstituted as actors engage the world in practice. In interpreting the findings of an empirical study conducted in a geographically dispersed hightech organization, I suggest that the competence to do global product development is both collective and distributed, grounded in the everyday practices of organizational members. I conclude by discussing some of the research implications of a perspective on organizational knowing in practice.
2,670 citations