In the 1980s and 1990s, Japan’s and the United States’ work cultures clashed with a competition of values. The Japanese were deemed more innovative while the Americans were deemed more interested in taking advantage of the status quo. Both authors, rooted in Japanese culture yet educated in America, noted that implicit knowledge drove Japanese innovation while explicit knowledge drove American business. In this book, they describe what happens when these two paradigms unite in creative projects.
The authors start with a philosophical journey describing Western philosophy and its equivalents in Japan. This description, though impractical to many readers, highlights the deep roots of cultural interaction necessary to capture the energy of these two cultures. In the rest of the book, they draw out the practical implications with stories of how Japanese companies engaged Western markets.
They end their exploration by detailing success stories of how Nissan adapted its Japanese principles to European and American markets – that is, how this intellectual story plays out on a global scale. Nissan even manufactured their products in these communities, apart from the Japanese islands. Thus, they demonstrated that integration and fusion of these disparate mindsets is possible with fruitful ends.
This book, though a bit dated thirty years later, is a classic that deserves revisiting. Understanding the knowledge implicit in cultural practices is Anthropology 101, but not fully explored by many in business and research. Although this book centers on Japan and the United States, this book delineates how tacit knowledge must be extrapolated to grow in different cultures, regardless of setting. That theme brings about a timelessness that make it deserving of reading for decades to come.
The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation
By Ikujiro Nonaka & Hirotaka Takeuchi
Narrated by William Michael Redman
Text copyright (c) 1995
Oxford University Press
Audio copyright (c) 2014
Audible Studios
ASIN B00I883A5S
Length: 11:14
Genre: Management
www.amazon.com