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When The Knowledge-Creating Company
appeared, it was hailed as a landmark work in the field
of knowledge management and sold nearly 40,000 copies. Now,
Enabling Knowledge Creation ventures even further
into this all-important territory, showing how firms can
generate and nurture ideas by using the concepts introduced
in the first book.
Weaving together lessons from such international
leaders as Siemens, Unilever, Skandia, and Sony, along with
their own firsthand consulting experiences, the authors
introduce knowledge enabling -- the overall set of organizational
activities that promote knowledge creation -- and demonstrate
its power to transform an organization's knowledge into
value-creating actions. They describe the five key "knowledge
enablers" and outline what it takes to instill a knowledge
vision, manage conversations, mobilize knowledge activists,
create the right context for knowledge creation, and globalize
local knowledge.
The authors stress that knowledge creation
must be more than the exclusive purview of our individual
-- or designated "knowledge" officer. Indeed,
it demands new roles and responsibilities for everyone in
the organization -- from the elite in the executive suite
to the frontline workers on the shop floor. Whether an activist,
a caring expert, or a corporate epistemologist who focuses
on the theory of knowledge itself, everyone in an organization
has a vital role to play in making "care" an integral
part of the everyday experience; in supporting, nurturing,
and encouraging microcommunities of innovation and fun;
and in creating a shared space where knowledge is created,
exchanged, and used for sustained, competitive advantage.
This much anticipated sequel puts practical
tools into the hands of managers and executives who are
struggling to unleash the power of knowledge in their organization.
George von Krogh has worked with his
co-authors on researching the ways that successful firms
have been able to utilize knowledge -- especially tacit
knowledge -- in developing competitive products and services
since 1995. He is a professor of management at the University
of St. Gallen in Switzerland and director at the Institute
of Management at this university. He is also an active consultant
to several large European and North American firms.
Kazuo Ichijo has studied innovation in
major global firms that have made knowledge creation an
important part of their management philosophy. His expertise
includes innovation at the level of product development,
organization, and industry. He is an associate professor
in the Faculty of Social Sciences and an associate professor
of the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy
at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.
Ikujiro Nonaka is co-author of The
Knowledge Creating Company (Oxford,
1995) which made the business world aware of the power of
knowledge creation. He has been described as one of the
six founding contributors to (or pioneers of) the emerging
knowledge-based view of the firm -- together with his co-author
Georg von Krogh. He is a professor of the Graduate School
of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University
and the Xerox Distinguished Professor in Knowledge at the
Hass School of Business, University of California at Berkeley.
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