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The knowledge-creating company : how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation

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
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Journal ArticleDOI
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


Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."

  • ...A knowledge-based perspective of the firm has emerged in the strategic management literature (Cole 1998; Spender 1996a, 1996b; Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
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


Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."

  • ...This type of interaction and collaboration is important when attempting to transmit tacit knowledge between individuals or convert tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, thereby transforming it from individual to organizational level [84, 85, 86, 87]....

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  • ...Collaboration is seen as one of the key manners in which knowledge is transmitted and created within the organization [49, 74, 87, 89, 98]....

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  • ...The formal organizational structures within an organization may encourage or inhibit interactions among employees, a practice seen as vital in the effective management of knowledge [49, 87, 89, 94]....

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  • ...Nonaka and Takeuchi [87] develop a new organizational...

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  • ...Collaboration between individuals is also the basis for the socialization of knowledge [87]....

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Journal ArticleDOI
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


Additional excerpts

  • ...Knowledge may also be thought of as ‘tacit’ and ‘explicit’ (Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
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


Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."

  • ...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....

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  • ...Not surprisingly, the process of innovation is commonly equated with an ongoing pursuit of harnessing new and unique knowledge (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995)....

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  • ...Several studies have underscored how new products embody organizational knowledge (e.g., Stewart, 1997), described innovation as a knowledge management process (e.g., Madhavan & Grover, 1998), and characterized innovative companies as knowledge creating (e.g., Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Feb 2009
TL;DR: It is suggested that the competence to do global product development is both collective and distributed, grounded in the everyday practices of organizational members, and not a static embedded capability or stable disposition.
Abstract: Knoving in practice: Enacting a collettive capability in distributed organizing - 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 o\ 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.

2,661 citations


Cites background from "The knowledge-creating company : ho..."

  • ...…examine the various strategies, routines, and techniques through which different types of knowledge are created, codified, converted, transferred, and exchanged (Nelson and Winter 1982, Leonard-Barton 1992, Hedlund 1994, Nonaka 1994, Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995, Winter 1987, Teece 1998, Hansen 1999)....

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  • ...Indeed, “knowledge” has become the watchword of contemporary organizations, and research interest in knowledge, knowledge-based organizations, and knowledge management has accelerated (Kogut and Zander 1992, Starbuck 1992, Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995, Tsoukas 1996, Teece 1998)....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a mix of strategic management tools applied by two coworking spaces in Amsterdam are analyzed to shed light on their effectiveness for interaction and innovation, and the policy implications for owners/managers of the spaces to enhance collaboration, knowledge transfer and promote new business opportunities.
Abstract: This paper analyses how managed coworking spaces affect the innovation process of their members. Managed coworking spaces are working environments for independent professionals, with an active role of the manager of the space to foster collaboration and interaction. It is often taken for granted that coworking contributes to innovation, yet, it is not fully understood how coworking spaces can be effective in fostering innovation, and what role management could play. This paper presents a mix of strategic management tools applied by two coworking spaces in Amsterdam. Qualitative research techniques were applied to shed light on their effectiveness for interaction and innovation. We analyse policy implications for owners/managers of coworking spaces to enhance collaboration, knowledge transfer and promoting new business opportunities.

52 citations

Dissertation
24 Nov 2005
TL;DR: This dissertation focuses on a specific kind of end-user participation: patient participation in decision-making on bio-medical research and reflects on the current situation concerning this type of patient participation and on strategies followed and obstacles faced.
Abstract: End-users are increasingly involved in decision-making concerning science and technology. This dissertation focuses on a specific kind of end-user participation: patient participation in decision-making on bio-medical research. Since patients can be considered relevant experts and stakeholders within the biomedical research field different normative and substantive arguments support their participation in decision-making processes. The study described reflects on the current situation concerning this type of patient participation and in particular on strategies followed and obstacles faced. In addition an alternative strategy is proposed and evaluated that seems to realize patient participation in decision-making on biomedical research in an effective manner. Successful applications of this strategy may eventually contribute to the induction of a transition of the biomedical research decision-making network towards the structural inclusion of patients. The study contributes to the on-going debate on one of the central themes within the field of Science and Technology Studies: broadening decision-making processes concerning science and technology.

52 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Things, computers and humans, ubiquitous, artificial and collective intelligence, as well as explicit and tacit knowledge, are integrated as a whole in the WM.
Abstract: Manufacturing enterprises are socio-technical systems, which necessitate overall integration of not only the technical aspects from devices in shop-floor to enterprise resources planning vertically and from product order to shipment horizontally, but also the social aspects such as human interactions and consumers’ intentions. Moreover, there is a growing need in the use of knowledge in enterprise contexts. To meet such needs, wisdom manufacturing WM is emerging with advances in the Internet and manufacturing as well as intelligence. In this paper, the most recently developed manufacturing models such as smart manufacturing SM/smart factory SF, cloud manufacturing CM and socialised enterprise SE/Enterprise 2.0 are analysed, and a WM vision is presented to aggregate SM, CM, SE and existing intelligent manufacturing IM that are complementary to each other. Then pathways towards the WM vision are addressed in relationship to knowledge, intelligence, creativity/innovation, learning and wisdom, especially from DIKW data-information-knowledge-wisdom and semiotic perspectives as well as from the web evolution. And wisdom and realisation towards the WM vision are investigated. Finally, a case study is used to illustrate the WM vision landscape followed by a conclusion. As a consequence, things, computers and humans, ubiquitous, artificial and collective intelligence, as well as explicit and tacit knowledge, are integrated as a whole in the WM.

52 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the effects of convergence of science and technology on innovation impact, specifically how convergence helps R&D organizations to apply scientific knowledge to their research activities, and they found that an increase in the proportion of scientific knowledge in convergence has a positive and curvilinear relationship with innovation impact.
Abstract: This study investigates the effects of convergence of science and technology on innovation impact, specifically how convergence helps R&D organizations to apply scientific knowledge to their R&D activities. In addition to direct effects of convergence, we address the moderating effects of scientific capacity, knowledge spillover, and knowledge maturity from the knowledge side. The empirical analysis, which employs a zero inflated negative binomial regression model uses data on 2074 patents granted to US organizations from the pharmaceutical industry. The results show that an increase in the proportion of scientific knowledge in convergence has a positive and curvilinear relationship with innovation impact. Also, we find that the organization’s scientific capacity, regional scientific knowledge spillover, and knowledge maturity positively moderate the relationship between convergence and innovation impact. Our findings underline the importance of convergence between science and technology as well as provide implications on how to improve the outcome of an organization’s research and development process.

52 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper proposes streamlining situated articulation work, value network analyses (VNA) and subject-oriented business process modelling (S-BPM) and execution to provide non-disruptive single and double learning processes driven by concerned stakeholders.
Abstract: Purpose – This paper aims to achieve fully intertwined knowledge and business processing in change processes. It proposes streamlining situated articulation work, value network analyses (VNA) and subject-oriented business process modelling (S-BPM) and execution to provide non-disruptive single and double learning processes driven by concerned stakeholders. When implementing knowledge life cycles, such as Firestone and McElroy’s knowledge life cycle, the agility of organizations is significantly constrained, in particular, when surviving knowledge claims should be implemented in the business processing environment in a seamless way. Design/methodology/approach – The contribution is based on a conceptual analysis of knowledge life cycle implementations, learning loop developments and an exploratory case study in health care to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The solution towards non-disruptive knowledge and business processing allows stakeholders to actively participate in single- an...

52 citations