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The Knowledge-creating Theory Revisited: Knowledge Creation as a Synthesizing Process

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Book cover The Essentials of Knowledge Management

Part of the book series: OR Essentials Series ((ORESS))

Abstract

This paper is a part of our attempt to build a new knowledge-based theory of the firm and organization to explain the dynamic process of knowledge creation and utilization. For this, we revisit the theory of knowledge creation through the SECI process and ba, and try to advance them further by incorporating the dialectic thinking. In this paper, knowledge creation is conceptualized as a dialectical process, in which various contradictions are synthesized through dynamic interactions among individuals, the organization, and the environment. With the view of a firm as a dialectic being, and strategy and organization should be re-examined as the synthesizing and self-transcending process instead of a logical analysis of structure or action. An organization is not an information-processing machine that is composed of small tasks to carry out a given task, but an organic configuration of ba. Ba, which is conceptualized as a shared context in motion, can transcend time, space, and organization boundaries to create knowledge.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, Hitotsubashi University, Japan

    Ikujiro Nonaka

  2. Institute of Management, Innovation and Organization, UC Berkeley, USA

    Ikujiro Nonaka

  3. Center for Knowledge and Innovation Research, Helsinki School of Economics, Finland

    Ikujiro Nonaka

  4. Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Graduate School of Knowledge Science, Tatsunokuchi, Ishikawa, Japan

    Ryoko Toyama

Authors
  1. Ikujiro Nonaka
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  2. Ryoko Toyama
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Aston Business School, Aston University, UK

    John S. Edwards (Professor of Knowledge Management) (Professor of Knowledge Management)

Copyright information

© 2015 Ikujiro Nonaka and Ryoko Toyama

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Nonaka, I., Toyama, R. (2015). The Knowledge-creating Theory Revisited: Knowledge Creation as a Synthesizing Process. In: Edwards, J.S. (eds) The Essentials of Knowledge Management. OR Essentials Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137552105_4

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