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.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors link personality, specifically agreeableness, a broad personality domain and propensity to trust, a narrow personality facet, to knowledge sharing via interpersonal trust, thereby clarifying substantial person-related effects within these important workplace phenomena.
Abstract: The strategic importance of knowledge sharing and its relationships with organizational and managerial (i.e. environmental) factors have been well documented. The effects of some context-specific individual factors—including interpersonal trust—on knowledge sharing have also been investigated. The effects of enduring and pervasive individual factors (i.e, personality) on knowledge sharing have not been adequately described empirically. This article links personality, specifically agreeableness, a broad personality domain and propensity to trust, a narrow personality facet, to knowledge sharing via interpersonal trust, thereby clarifying substantial person-related effects within these important workplace phenomena.
491 citations
Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."
...…(1) the properties of the knowledge itself, such as its degree of articulation and degree of aggregation (e.g. Spender, 1996; Blackler, 1995; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995); (2) the properties of management and managerial actions, such as coordination mechanisms, inter-unit or inter-group…...
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...Enabling knowledge creation and knowledge sharing is essential to innovation and organizational success (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Spender, 1996; von Krogh et al., 2000)....
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...…Cabrera and Cabrera, 2002; Tsai, 2002); (3) the properties of the environment, including macro-level environmental factors such as country culture (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995), technology and organization culture (Wasko and Faraj, 2005), and micro-level environmental factors, that is, the…...
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...Cabrera and Cabrera, 2002; Tsai, 2002); (3) the properties of the environment, including macro-level environmental factors such as country culture (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995), technology and organization culture (Wasko and Faraj, 2005), and micro-level environmental factors, that is, the characteristics of the dyadic, interpersonal relationships in which knowledge sharing occurs, such as shared language, shared vision and strength of the interpersonal ties between two parties (e....
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...Various kinds of factors may influence knowledge sharing, including: (1) the properties of the knowledge itself, such as its degree of articulation and degree of aggregation (e.g. Spender, 1996; Blackler, 1995; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995); (2) the properties of management and managerial actions, such as coordination mechanisms, inter-unit or inter-group competition and managerial interventions aimed at increasing knowledge sharing, such as rewards and incentives (e....
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TL;DR: It is found that intrinsic motivation was more important than extrinsic motivation in inducing participation in crowdsourcing contests, and it is suggested that crowdsourcing contest tasks should preferably be highly autonomous, explicitly specified, and less complex, as well as require a variety of skills.
Abstract: Firms can seek innovative external ideas and solutions to business tasks by sponsoring co-creation activities such as crowdsourcing. To get optimal solutions from crowdsourcing contest participants, firms need to improve task design and motivate contest solvers' participation in the co-creation process. Based on the theory of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as well as the theory of job design, we developed a research model to explain participation in crowdsourcing contests, as well as the effects of task attributes on intrinsic motivation. Subjective and objective data were collected from 283 contest solvers at two different time points. We found that intrinsic motivation was more important than extrinsic motivation in inducing participation. Contest autonomy, variety, and analyzability were positively associated with intrinsic motivation, whereas contest tacitness was negatively associated with intrinsic motivation. The findings suggest a balanced view of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in order to encourage participation in crowdsourcing. We also suggest that crowdsourcing contest tasks should preferably be highly autonomous, explicitly specified, and less complex, as well as require a variety of skills.
477 citations
Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."
...However, knowledge transfer cost increases with knowledge tacitness because of the difficulty of articulating tacit knowledge when transferring this type of knowledge [52]....
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TL;DR: The theory of the knowledge-creating firm explains the differences among firms not as a result of market failure, but as a consequence of the firm's visions of the future and strategy.
Abstract: The theory of the knowledge-creating firm explains the differences among firms not as a result of market failure, but as a result of the firm's visions of the future and strategy. This paper proposes a framework to capture the dynamic process of knowledge creation in which knowledge is created through the dynamic interaction between subjectivity and objectivity. Knowledge is created through the synthesis of thinking and actions of individuals, who interact with each other within and beyond the organizational boundaries.
473 citations
Cites background or methods from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."
...Through the knowledge conversion process [the Socialization, Externalization, Combination, and Internalization (SECI) process], personal subjective knowledge is validated socially and synthesized with others’ knowledge so that knowledge keeps expanding (Nonaka, 1991; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995)....
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...The newly created tacit knowledge then sets off the new spiral of knowledge creation (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995)....
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...Viewing the knowledge-creating process as the conversion process between tacit and explicit knowledge means that the process is viewed as a social process of validating truth (Nonaka, 1994; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995)....
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TL;DR: The purpose of this article is to examine, in some unusual detail, a significant example of a failed knowledge management initiative in order to analyse what went wrong and to identify the key learning points.
Abstract: Large numbers of organizations are taking great interest in the idea of knowledge management and many are launching knowledge management initiatives and programmes. A large proportion of such initiatives will fail. Yet, despite the injunctions to “learn from failure”, little detailed attention has been paid to why and how these apparently popular initiatives run into difficulties. The purpose of this article is to examine, in some unusual detail, a significant example of a failed knowledge management initiative in order to analyse what went wrong and to identify the key learning points.
470 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explore the nature and relative importance of different types of interfirm relationships for new product development (NPD) success and explore the extent of use of external relationships in collaborative product development and find that customers are involved more frequently in joint development efforts.
461 citations
Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."
...…one without doubt is the distinction between tacit and codified knowledge (See, e.g., Ancori, Bureth, and Cohendet, 2000; Cohendet and Steinmueller, 2000; Nonaka, 1994; Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995; Zack, 1999 for in-depth discussions on the problems of codification and transfer of tacit knowledge)....
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References
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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