Ikujiro Nonaka Explained

is a Japanese organizational theorist and Professor Emeritus at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy of the Hitotsubashi University, best known for his study of knowledge management.

Biography

Nonaka was born in Tokyo in 1935 and as a child he lived through World War II. His nationalist spirit led him to believe that Japan should adapt its technological and organizational skills. In 1958 Nonaka received his B.S. in political science of Waseda University.

After graduation Nonaka accepted a job in Fuji Electric, where he initiated a management program. This curriculum was in the 1960s further developed together with the business school of Keio University and offered to companies all over Japan.^[1] In 1967 Nonaka moved to US where in 1968 he obtained an MBA and in 1972 a PhD in Business Administration both at University of California, Berkeley.

Nonaka was the First Distinguished Drucker Scholar in Residence at the Drucker School and Institute, Claremont Graduate University; the Xerox Distinguished Faculty Scholar, Institute of Management, Innovation and Organization, UC Berkeley. Back in Japan he became professor at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy of Hitotsubashi University.

Work

Nonaka co-wrote several noteworthy articles with Hirotaka Takeuchi, a colleague at Hitotsubashi University, including:

• The article The New New Product Development Game, in which they emphasised speed and flexibility for new product development.^[2] This article is considered to be one of the roots of the Scrum framework, one of the most used agile software development techniques.
• The Nonaka-Takeuchi model of accumulation of tacit knowledge.^[3]

In 2008, the Wall Street Journal listed him as one of the most influential persons on business thinking,^[4] and The Economist included him in its "Guide to Management Ideas and Gurus".^[5]

Nonaka has also proposed the SECI model, to present the spiraling knowledge processes of interaction between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. SECI is short for:

• Socialization
• Externalization
• Combination
• Internalization

Selected bibliography

• Essence of Failure: Organizational Study of the Japanese Armed Forces during the World War II (with R. Tobe, Y. Teramoto, S. Kamata, T. Suginoo and T. Murai), Tokyo: Diamond-sha, 1984 (in Japanese).
  • Enabling Knowledge Creation (with G. von Krogh and K. Ichijo), New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
• Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management (with co-authors), John Wiley (Asia), 2003.
• The Essence of Innovation (with A. Katsumi), Tokyo: Nikkei BP, 2004 (in Japanese).
• The Essence of Strategy (with co-authors), Tokyo: Nikkei BP, 2005 (in Japanese).
• Managing Flow (with T. Hirata and R. Toyama), Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
• The Core of Organization is People (with H. Sakai, H. Yoshida, T. Sakikawa, T. Hirata, K. Isomura and Yasunobu NARITA), Kyoto: Nakanishiya, 2009 (in Japanese).
• The Philosophy-Creating Company (with K. Genma, T. Hirata, K. Isomura and Yasunobu NARITA), Kyoto: Nakanishiya, 2012 (in Japanese).

About Ikujiro Nonaka

• • • Strategy Business Magazine article in Winter 2008 issue

External links

• Biography at Hitotsubashi University

Notes and References

1. [Sally Helgesen]
2. Takeuchi, H. and Nonaka, I. 1986. The New New Product Development Game, Harvard Business Review, January/February, 285-305
3. Book: Nonaka . Ikujiro . Ikujiro Nonaka . Takeuchi . Hirotaka . Hirotaka Takeuchi . 1995 . The knowledge creating company: how Japanese companies create the dynamics of innovation . Oxford University Press . New York . 284 . 978-0-19-509269-1 . registration .
4. Erin White. "Quest for Innovation, Motivation Inspires the Gurus". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 10, 2008.
5. Hindle, T. (2008). Guide to management ideas & gurus. Delhi: Profile Books.