About the Book
When The Knowledge-Creating Company (OUP; nearly 40,000 copies sold) appeared, it was hailed as a landmark work in the field of knowledge management. 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 first-hand 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 one 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.
About the Author :
Georg Von Krogh is Professor of Management and member of the board, the Institute of Management, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. An active consultant, his clients include Hoffman La-Roche, PricewaterhouseCoopers, USB, and Unilever. He lives in St. Gallen, Switzerland. Kazuo Ichijo is Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences, Hitotsubashi University. Author of Management by Values, winner of the Japan
Management Association's 1998 Best Book Award, he also works with the leaders of Toyota, General Electric, Fujitsu, Sony, Hitachi, and others, to help them transform their organizations. He lives in Tokyo, Japan. Ikujiro Nonaka is Dean of the School
of Knowledge Science at the Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and is a chaired professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Haas School of Business. Co-author of the highly acclaimed The Knowledge-Creating Company (OUP), he lives in Tokyo, Japan.
Review :
"Enabling Knowledge Creation is not only carefully written and an interesting read, but it is also very practical and action oriented. The book is full of extremely useful frameworks and suggestions as well as case studies of successful companies in Japan, Europe, and the United States. It will clearly become a standard handbook in the knowledge management field."- Michael A. Cusumano, Sloan Management Review Distinguished Professor, MIT Sloan School
of Management and co-author of Microsoft Secrets and Competing On Internet Time
"Von Krogh, Ichijo and Nonaka write from the deep and accurate conviction that the most important but hardest part of enabling knowing is nurturing the tacit dimensions of knowledge."- Dorothy A. Leonard, William J. Abernathy Professor of Business Administration, Harvard Business School
"Enabling Knowledge Creation is a key volume in the new second generation knowledge research texts, well written and researched by three outstanding scholars. It should be studied and absorbed by anyone working with knowledge and knowledge contexts."--Larry Prusak, Executive Director, IBM Institute for Knowledge Management
"Knowledge creation requires an organized effort, says this international author team. They offer a detailed program along with five enablers: a knowledge vision, managed conversations, a team of knowledge activists, a contextual framework, and a distribution process."--Business Reader Review
