{"product_id":"the-knowledgecreating-company-how-japanese-companies-create-the-dynamics-of-innovation","title":"The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation","description":"\u003cp\u003eHow have Japanese companies become world leaders in the automotive and electronics industries  among others? What is the secret of their success? Two leading Japanese business experts  Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi  are the first to tie the success of Japanese companies to their ability to create new knowledge and use it to produce successful products and technologies. In The Knowledge-Creating Company  Nonaka and Takeuchi provide an inside look at how Japanese companies go about creating this new knowledge organizationally. The authors point out that there are two types of knowledge: explicit knowledge  contained in manuals and procedures  and tacit knowledge  learned only by experience  and communicated only indirectly  through metaphor and analogy. U.S. managers focus on explicit knowledge. The Japanese  on the other hand  focus on tacit knowledge. And this  the authors argue  is the key to their success--the Japanese have learned how to transform tacit into explicit knowledge.  To explain how this is done--and illuminate Japanese business practices as they do so--the authors range from Greek philosophy to Zen Buddhism  from classical economists to modern management gurus  illustrating the theory of organizational knowledge creation with case studies drawn from such firms as Honda  Canon  Matsushita  NEC  Nissan  3M  GE  and even the U.S. Marines. For instance  using Matsushitas development of the Home Bakery (the worlds first fully automated bread-baking machine for home use)  they show how tacit knowledge can be converted to explicit knowledge: when the designers couldnt perfect the dough kneading mechanism  a software programmer apprenticed herself with the master baker at Osaka International Hotel  gained a tacit understanding of kneading  and then conveyed this information to the engineers. In addition  the authors show that  to create knowledge  the best management style is neither top-down nor bottom-up  but rather what they call \"middle-up-down \" in which the middle managers form a bridge between the ideals of top management and the chaotic realities of the frontline. As we make the turn into the 21st century  a new society is emerging. Peter Drucker calls it the \"knowledge society \" one that is drastically different from the \"industrial society \" and one in which acquiring and applying knowledge will become key competitive factors. Nonaka and Takeuchi go a step further  arguing that creating knowledge will become the key to sustaining a competitive advantage in the future.  Because the competitive environment and customer preferences changes constantly  knowledge perishes quickly. With The Knowledge-Creating Company  managers have at their fingertips years of insight from Japanese firms that reveal how to create knowledge continuously  and how to exploit it to make successful new products  services  and systems.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44955098513461,"sku":"ByrdShop_0195092694","price":25.25,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780195092691.jpg?v=1770298119","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-knowledgecreating-company-how-japanese-companies-create-the-dynamics-of-innovation","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}