The Knowledge-Creating Company

Citation

Nonaka, I., & Takeuchi, H. (1995). The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation. Oxford University Press.

Core Contribution

Introduces the SECI model of organizational knowledge creation, explaining how companies innovate by converting between tacit and explicit knowledge through four modes.

Key Concepts

Tacit Knowledge: Personal, context-specific knowledge difficult to formalize. “We know more than we can tell.”

Explicit Knowledge: Codified, systematic knowledge easily transmitted and shared.

The SECI Spiral:

1. Socialization (Tacit → Tacit): Sharing through shared experience
2. Externalization (Tacit → Explicit): Articulating through metaphors, models
3. Combination (Explicit → Explicit): Systematizing by combining sources
4. Internalization (Explicit → Tacit): Learning by doing

Ba: The shared context where knowledge creation occurs.

Related: 06-molecule—seci-framework, 06-molecule—tacit-vs-explicit-knowledge, 06-atom—tacit-knowledge-definition