Japanese organizational knowledge creation in Anglo-American environments

Prometheus: Critical Studies in Innovation

Volumn 16, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 421-439

  Nonaka, Ikujiro ^b   Ray, Tim ^b   Umemoto, Katsuhiro ^b  

^a JAPAN ADVANCED INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY   (Japan)

^b NONE

Author keywords

Global reach; International management; Japan; Knowledge creation; National innovation systems

Indexed keywords

EMPLOYMENT; INNOVATION; MANAGEMENT PRACTICE;

JAPAN;

EID: 0032455412     PISSN: 08109028     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/08109029808629292     Document Type: Article

References (58)

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2. Chalmers Johnson set the agenda for revisionist interpretations of Japan with MITI and the Japanese Miracle: The Growth of Industrial Policy, 1925-1975, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1982. According to Johnson (C. Johnson, Japan: Who Governs? The Rise of the Developmental State, Norton, New York, 1995, p. 102), other revisionist writers include Karel van Wolferen, Glen Fukushima, James Fallows, Pat Choate, Marie Anchorgoguy, Michael Crichton, and Clyde Prestowitz.
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17. Ibid., p. 15
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22. Ibid., p. 19
23. Sugihara, op. cit., 1994, p. 84.
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25. A special feature on Japan in the September 1936 issue of Fortune (14, 3, p. 120) reported that 46% of Japan's national expenditure was devoted to the armed services, more than 2.5 times that of the US.
26. Freeman, op. cit., 1987, p. 32.
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28. Miyashita and Russell, op. cit., p. 37.
29. E. Fingleton, Blindside: Why Japan is Still on Track to Overtake the U.S. by the Year 2000, Kodansha, Tokyo, 1995, p. 187.
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31. Fingleton, op. cit., p. 325.
32. Barker, op. cit., p. 9.
33. For an account of the development of Japanese science, see K. Itakura and E. Yagi, 'The Japanese research system and the establishment of the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research', in S. Nakayama et al. (eds), Science and Society in Modern Japan, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1974, pp. 158-201
34. 'Science and technology: back to basics in Japan', The Economist, 25 May 1996, p. 102.
35. PhD data are from unpublished tables provided by Japan's Ministry of Education, Science, Sport and Culture and the US National Science Foundation. Please note that in Japanese data, mathematics is included in natural sciences, but computer science is grouped under engineering.
36. J. Lorriman and T. Kenjo, Japan's Winning Margins, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1996, p. 82.
37. Fingleton, op. cit., pp. 225-9.
38. Ibid., 1995, pp. 79-84.
39. Lorriman and Kenjo, op. cit., p. 74.
40. van Wolferen, op. cit., p. 214.
41. Quoted in Barker, op. cit.
42. Nemawashi refers to the practice of digging around the roots of a tree prior to transplantation. Cutting the roots in this way encourages them to sprout forth quickly and take hold in the tree's new location.
43. S. Macdonald, 'Learning to change: an information perspective on learning in the organization', Organization Science, 6, 2, 1995, pp. 557-68.
44. Johnson-Laird discusses this issue in terms of the 'mental models' that human beings use to create and manipulate images in their minds. P. N. Johnson-Laird, Mental Models, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1983.
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47. J. Harvey-Jones, Managing to Survive, Manadarin, London, 1993, p. 178.
48. For background to the ideas in this section see I. Nonaka and H. Takeuchi, The Knowledge Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995; I. Nonaka, 'Redundant, overlapping organization: a Japanese approach to managing the innovation process', California Management Review, 32, 3, 1990, pp. 27-38.
49. For background to the ideas in this section see I. Nonaka and H. Takeuchi, The Knowledge Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation, Oxford University Press, New York, 1995; I. Nonaka, 'Redundant, overlapping organization: a Japanese approach to managing the innovation process', California Management Review, 32, 3, 1990, pp. 27-38.
50. S. Tully, 'Managing the modular corporation', Fortune, February 1993, pp. 58-62.
51. Handy argues that the lack of face-to-face meetings is a major problem for the virtual corporation. C. Handy, 'The virtual corporation', Business Week, 8 February 1993, p. 41.
52. 'The salary man rides again', The Economist, 4 February 1995, p. 70.
53. Nonaka and Takeuchi, op. cit., pp. 166-71.
54. Both of the case studies are based on primary research led by Nonaka. For further discussion see Nonaka and Takeuchi, op. cit., pp. 197-223.
55. I. Nonaka, Nissan: Development of the Primera, Case Study SMIP-92-01, Nomura School of Advanced Management, Tokyo, p. 28 (in Japanese).
56. P. Wickens, The Road to Nissan: Flexibility, Quality, Teamwork, Macmillan, London, 1987, p. 38.
57. Ibid., p. 186.
58. Interviewed by I. Nonaka, T. Ohtsubo and M. Fukushima, September 1990.