Managing Flow A Process Theory of the Knowledge-Based Firm

by Nonaka, Ikujiro; Toyama, Ryoko; Hirata, Toru

• ISBN13: 9781137494825
• ISBN10: 1137494824
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2015-02-10
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

Managing Flow is a classic and influential text from the revered Professor Ikujiro Nonaka. It was published at a time when there was a great shift towards a knowledge-based economy which has only intensified in recent years, where knowledge is the most important resource, superseding the traditional resources of the land, capital and labour. The book presents the latest developments in knowledge creation and management theory by the leading scholar in the field, expanding on and enriching existing knowledge-based theory. It also presents process theory through 10 case studies of successful global Japanese firms, such as Eisai, Canon, Honda and Toyota. The book provides a framework for a dynamic model of a knowledge-creation organization and demonstrates the conditions and abilities of knowledge-creating leadership. It explores knowledge management as a global concept and is relevant to any company that wants to prosper and thrive in the global knowledge economy. Managing Flow has changed the prevailing view of knowledge management as a branch within IT to an enabler of in-depth learning, advocating for the cultivation and deliberate harnessing of tacit knowledge.

Author Biography

Dr. Ikujiro Nonaka is Professor Emeritus at Hitotsubashi University, School Professor at Waseda University both in Tokyo, and Xerox Distinguished Faculty Scholar at University of California, Berkeley. In 2013 Professor Nonaka won the Thinkers 50 Lifetime Achievement Award and is recognized as Japan's most significant management scholar. He is the President of the Japan-American Institute of Management Science (JAIMS) in Honolulu and Fellow of the Association of International Business. His Visiting Scholarships include the Helsinki School of Economics and Claremont Graduate University in Los Angeles where he is the Drucker Scholar in Residence (a position named after Peter Drucker). As originator of the Knowledge Creation Theory of the firm his research is centred on knowledge creation management to foster the sustainable and innovative organizations and the next generation of wise business leaders in multiple levels of organization; from private firms, public organizations, communities, and to nations.

Dr. Ryoko Toyama is Professor in the Graduate School of Strategic Management at Chuo University, Tokyo, and Visiting Professor in the Graduate School of Knowledge Science at the Japan Institute of Advanced Science and Technology, in Nomi city, Ishikawa. She also works as the program director of the Global Leadership for Innovation and Knowledge program at JAIMS. Her research is in the fields of strategy, technology management, and knowledge management.

Dr. Toru Hirata is Professor in the Institute of Human and Social Sciences, Faculty of Economics and Management, at Kanazawa University, in Kanazawa city, Ishikawa. His research is in the fields of knowledge management related to technology and intellectual property strategy.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Characteristics of Knowledge
3. The Theoretical Framework
4. Vision and Driving Objectives: Values for the Common Good
5. Eisai
6. Honda
7. Implications
8. Ba
9. Mayekawa Manufacturing Co., Ltd
10. Kumon
11. Implications
12. Dialogue and Practice: Leveraging Organizational Dialects
13. Seven-Eleven Japan
14. Muji
15. Implications
16. Dynamic Knowledge Assets in Process
17. YKK
18. JFE: Synthesizing Experience
19. Implications
20. Leadership: Fostering Distributed Excellence in the Organization
21. Canon
22. Toyota Prius
23. Implications
Conclusions