Book Review
Managing Industrial Knowledge: Creation, Transfer and Utilization
Ikujiro Nonaka and David J Teece
ISBN: 978-0-761954-98-9 2001 352 pages Sage Publications Ltd
Max von Zedtwitz
Professor, Technology and Innovation Management, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Managing Industrial Knowledge is a collection of 16 papers presented at the second and third annual forums on 'Knowledge and the Firm,' held at the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 and 1999. The editors, Ikujiro Nonaka and David Teece, two eminent scholars in this domain of research, provide a short overview and introduction to the theme and divide the papers into three parts: 1. Knowledge, creation and leadership; 2. Firms, markets and innovations; and 3. Managing knowledge and transformation.
Three chapters, one from each part, indicate the flavour of the contributions to the volume. John-Seely Brown and Paul Duguid, in a chapter in the first part, draw attention to the difference of formal and spontaneous organizations and their support of innovation. They note that self-organized structures are not necessarily devoid of formal structure, and they distinguish between declarative knowledge (knowing about something) and dispositional knowledge (knowing how to respond to situations and get things done). In a chapter in the second part, Robert M Grant writes about knowledge and its application to production, and how this offers considerable scope for advancing both the role of alternative economic institutions and the design of company structures. In a chapter in the third part, Hirotaka Takeuchi shows how the European, American, and Japanese approaches to knowledge management, which were originally distinct, have merged into a more universal management concept. In fact, he concludes, as more Western organizations turn towards knowledge creation and more Japanese firms emphasize measurement, knowledge management seems to turn out to be the most universal management concept ever.
Like most edited volumes, this book is characterized by a diversity of views and perspectives and lacks a differentiated single message. If there is a unifying common observation, then it is the realization that knowledge management - in its various interpretations - is becoming a viable alternative in both management research and management practice to explain organizational change and innovation. And while not everyone may agree with all the concepts proposed and conclusions drawn in some of the chapters, the work presented here includes a wealth of new insights and learning that will be at least informative to some and enlightening to most of the researchers in this field. In fact, this is a great book to be used in a PhD course on organizational knowledge and innovation, and shouldn't be missing from the shelves of aspiring young professors in those fields.
Is it a book for practicing managers and consultants? Maybe less so. Granted, there are many shorter examples and at least two major integrated case studies (on Nokia and Xerox), but they serve illustrative rather than prescriptive purposes. But there are certainly no one-two-three guidelines and how-to's that would be implementable without much need for adaptation. Only few of the figures and concepts developed here would make it into management use. While much of the covered material would be highly relevant to senior managers and consultants, I doubt that they will find the time and patience to sieve through this book and single out the learnings that are relevant to them. Again, an authored rather than an edited book would probably have focused on more readily absorbable messages.
In conclusion, this book is an excellent collection of articles on the subject with the greatest value for researchers who would like to better understand the implications of their work on management practice, and it makes a fine accompanying textbook for a PhD or graduate course on managing knowledge and innovation.
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