The Knowledge-Creating Company (Harvard Business Review Classics)

by Ikujiro Nonaka (Author)

83 ratings

ISBN-13: 978-1422179741

ISBN-10: 1422179745

Why is ISBN important?

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers

from

Other Sellers

See all 13 versions

More Buying Choices

2 used from $5.01

2 Used from $5.01

See All Buying Options

In a world where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge. The best companies survive by consistently creating new knowledge, disseminating it widely throughout the organization, and quickly leveraging it in their business processes and their products.In The Knowledge-Creating Company, Ikujiro Nonaka shows how your company can exploit its knowledge to continually innovate and reinvent itself in the face of relentless change.

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Dorothy Leonard-Barton
19
Hardcover
$20.67
Ikujiro Nonaka
18
Hardcover
$29.95
Thomas H. Davenport
55
Paperback
$18.00
Peter F. Drucker
2,111
Paperback
$9.99
Peter M. Senge
1,310
Paperback
$19.15
Michael Polanyi
55
Paperback
$18.00

Customers who bought this item also bought

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

William Isaacs
93
Hardcover
$29.12
Thomas H. Davenport
55
Paperback
$18.00
Michael Polanyi
55
Paperback
$18.00
Ed Catmull
3,282
Hardcover
$16.39
John Kotter
1,828
Hardcover
$9.95
John W. Creswell
1,493
Paperback
$52.42

Special offers and product promotions

Amazon Business : For business-only pricing, quantity discounts and FREE Shipping. Register a free business account

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ikujiro Nonaka is Professor Emeritus of international business strategy at Hitotsubashi University's Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, in Tokyo. He is coauthor, with Hirotaka Takeuchi, of The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation.

Start reading The Knowledge-Creating Company on your Kindle in under a minute.

Don't have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here, or download a FREE Kindle Reading App.

Product details

Publisher : Harvard Business Press (November 11, 2008)
Language : English
Paperback : 59 pages
ISBN-10 : 1422179745
ISBN-13 : 978-1422179741
Item Weight : 2.12 ounces
Dimensions : 4.25 x 0.25 x 6.5 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #5,847,834 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,132 in International Business (Books)
- #3,297 in Business Entrepreneurship
- #17,533 in International Business & Investing

Customer Reviews:
83 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		52%
4 star		23%
3 star		4%
2 star		6%
1 star		15%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Ricardo Campins

Be Careful

Reviewed in the United States on July 12, 2016

Verified Purchase

This is not a comment about the book per se, but a comment about the edition. This is not the advertised book written by Nonaka and Takeuchi, this is a much shorter and version about the knowledge creating company. Be careful not to be misled as I was when purchasing the Kindle version. Amazon should do something about, this is fraudulent.

18 people found this helpful

Helpful

Etienne RP

The Founding Text of the Knowledge-Creation School

Reviewed in the United States on August 27, 2010

Verified Purchase

This book has its origins in an article the two authors wrote for the Harvard Business Review in 1986 about new product development in Japanese companies. Rather than construct a complex theory, complete with flow charts and diagrams, they used a simple metaphor: developing a new product is more like a rugby game than a relay race. Under the relay approach, new-product development proceeds sequentially from phase to phase--concept development, feasibility testing, product design, development process, pilot production, and final production--with one group of functional specialists passing the baton to the next group. Under the rugby approach, the product development process emerges from the constant interaction of a multidisciplinary team whose members work together from start to finish. As in rugby, the ball gets passed within the team as it moves as a unit toward the goal.

Because project teams consist of members with varying functional specializations, the issue of learning was considered a key aspect of product development. The article focused on two dimensions of learning: across multiple levels (individual, group, and corporate) and across multiple functions. But although the authors devoted sections to cross-fertilization and transfer of learning, they didn't develop the epistemological dimension of learning, and their focus was more on the learning organization than on the knowledge-creating company. Japanese firms' reliance on trial and error and on learning by doing wasn't analyzed in terms of the prevalence of tacit knowledge and processes of organizational knowledge creation.

In their book, Nonaka and Takeuchi introduce a key distinction between two kinds of knowledge: explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge can be expressed in words and numbers and shared in the form of data, scientific formulae, specifications, manuals, and the like. This kind of knowledge can be readily transmitted across individuals formally and systematically. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is highly personal and hard to formalize, making it difficult to communicate or share with others. Subjective insights, intuitions, and hunches fall into this category of knowledge. Difficult to verbalize, such tacit knowledge is deeply rooted in an individual's action and experience, as well as in the ideals, values, or emotions he or she embraces.

There are two dimensions to knowledge creation: epistemological and ontological. The epistemological level describes how knowledge is converted from one type into another through processes of socialization (from tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge), externalization (from tacit knowledge to explicit knowledge), combination (from explicit to explicit) and internalization (from explicit to tacit). The ontological level refers to the knowledge-creating entity: it includes individual, group, organizational, and interorganizational levels. A knowledge spiral emerges when the interaction between tacit and explicit knowledge is elevated dynamically from a lower ontological level to higher levels.

The authors believe that Japanese companies are especially good at realizing this exchange between tacit and explicit knowledge during the product development phase, and that there is a distinctively Japanese approach to knowledge creation. Epistemologically, Westerners tend to emphasize explicit knowledge and the Japanese tend to stress tacit knowledge. Ontologically, Westerners are more focused on individuals, while the Japanese are more group-oriented. These differences give rise to a wholly different view of the organization: not as a machine for processing information, but as a living organism. People in Japan emphasize the importance of learning from direct experience as well as through trial and error. Like a child learning to eat, walk, and talk, they learn with their minds and bodies. This tradition of emphasizing the oneness of body and mind has been a unique feature of Japanese thinking since the establishment of Zen Buddhism.

The Western philosophical tradition, culminating with Wittgenstein, stresses that "we cannot say what we cannot think". But through metaphors, analogies, and pictures, people put together what they know in new ways and begin to express what they know but cannot yet say. As Polanyi put it, "We can know more than we can tell". The concept of tacit knowledge focuses on highly subjective insights, intuitions, and hunches that are gained through practical experience. This messy knowledge can prove indispensable in elaborating new concepts. As the authors underscore, "Ambiguity can prove useful at times not only as a source of a new sense of direction, but also as a source of alternate meanings and a fresh way of thinking about things. In this respect, new knowledge is born out of chaos".

Another important contribution of this book is to highlight the importance of middle managers and the role they play in the knowledge-creation process. Middle managers serve as a bridge between the visionary ideals of the top and the often chaotic reality of everyday business. They synthesize the tacit knowledge of both front-line employees and senior executives, make it explicit, and incorporate it into new products and technologies. Their contribution points toward a model of management that is neither top-down nor bottom-up, but "middle-up-down". In this model, knowledge is engineered by middle managers, who are often leaders of a team or task force, through a spiral conversion process involving both the top and the front-line employees.

Coming from a rich research field that combines theoretical speculation and practical experience, this management book is unlike any other. In no other text you will find discussions on the philosophy of Descartes and Nishida juxtaposing figures depicting the mechanics of a disposable cartridge in a photocopier. The case studies are not just vignette illustrations reduced to their skeletal form, they are thick descriptions replete with technical specifications and biographical details of key participants. There are no laundry lists of implementable measures or mnemonics of keywords that conjure the image of an alphabet soup. Instead the theory is illustrated by rich diagrams and stories, emphasizing the role of pictures and metaphors in conveying knowledge in a non-verbal form. The Oxford University Press ought to be commended for bringing this volume, the first in a series, to the attention of a public that seldom gets management books worthy of a rereading.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Andrew Oliver

Well Written Book On The Role Of Tacit Knowledge And Explicit Textual Knowledge In Social Organisations

Reviewed in the United States on March 1, 2013

Verified Purchase

In investigating knowledge, to study the role of different kinds of knowledge in the modern corporation - or perhaps, say, government department - one is not interested so much in its ontological status or even its truth or falsity but on its social role how it is learnt and taught and how it changes form as the organisation develops over time ...

Much more solidly based in real companies and real psychology than, say, excessively Hegelian approaches such as the 'social construction of reality' one or even 'ratomorphic behaviourists' who are surprised when they're bitten by theory rejection: the rats bite back, because their conscious minds reject being interpreted in terms of how lab rats behave!

Solid examples from dozens of case study investigations into Japanese companies!

And, whilst not as sound as an ontological approach, quite appropriate for the modern corporation, if not for the astrophysics research institute!

Helpful

William Petrick

Must read for Organizational Learning

Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2018

Verified Purchase

This article represents a foundational piece within the literature on organizational learning. It explores the relationship between tacit and explicit knowledge and the role of managers in the process. A bit dated as of now (2018) but still serves to hold key incites.

Just as an fyi, this is an article in book form and is theoretical in nature.

Helpful

Mondraea Calvin

Great tool for the OD professionals' toolkit!

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2015

Verified Purchase

Excellent resource for professionals wanting to understand key principles to enabling a culture which promotes the creation and dissemination of knowledge throughout a company. Authors Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi highlight the secrets of successful Japanese companies such as Cannon, Honda and Sharp and their ability to transfer explicit knowledge to tacit knowledge and ultimately new technologies and profits. According to Nonaka and Takeuchi, the key is their approach to managing the knowledge creation process and implementation of the Middle-up-Down management system. This book is a must-read for students and OD professional seeking to influence organizational design and culture.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Customer

Knowledge tacit

Reviewed in the United States on February 8, 2019

Verified Purchase

That’s a great understanding of how people can give much more money back to the companies if you design the internal processes based on the learning of them.

Helpful

A. Sharafi

Being innovative

Reviewed in the United States on August 14, 2016

Verified Purchase

The book provides a good review of how the Japanese companies diverted from their American and European counterparts in the pursuit of creating internal knowledge within the enterprise to improve product quality and efficiency, and bring innovative products to the market.

Helpful

Dennis Stevenson

A look at knowledge creation

Reviewed in the United States on November 25, 2001

Verified Purchase

I came to this book through a reference in Novak & Gowin. What caught my eye was that someone was willing to talk about an epistemological stance other than the analytic, reductionist view held in science. For the most part, I found this book's understanding of Western epistemology to be reasonable; I can't speak for the Japanese epsitemology cited. What interested me, and for which I recommend the book, is their view of knowledge creation. The case studies lend weight to their view, but they do explicate a possible model for turning subjective knowledge into explicit knowledge. They suggest a management model for making it happen. The book is very well written and edited.
I believe the book needs a very careful read *outside* the business community. I would put this book down as the business version of Feynman's *The Character of Natural Law*.

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

BJF

researchers used to pdf

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2021

Verified Purchase

the researchers used to pdf so they can integrate the content of the book and analysis their books from words perspective, so they would like to used pdf file as it can be integrated into the software they use for research, this way of the book is a very bad way

Martin

Kindle version is the earlier Harvard article, not the book

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

This kindle version is what you get if you click on the ebook version of the "The Knowledge Creating Company: How Japanese Companies create the dynamics of innovation" co-authored with Takeuchi in 1995; but it's the 1991 Harvard Business Review article, which is interesting, but not as advertised.

2 people found this helpful

naim mustafa

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 26, 2017

Verified Purchase

Superb product!

Jose Mendes

Four Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 11, 2017

Verified Purchase

Good book!

Mariana

Interesting

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 8, 2013

Verified Purchase

Interesting book. Perfect if you are a student of this area or if you want to understand more about business.

See all reviews