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Ikujiro Nonaka, Hirotaka Takeuchi Books

1 book·~10 min total read

Ikujiro Nonaka is a Japanese organizational theorist best known for his work on knowledge management and the SECI model of knowledge creation. Hirotaka Takeuchi is a professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of several influential works on innovation and management.

Known for: The Wise Company: How Companies Create Continuous Innovation

Books by Ikujiro Nonaka, Hirotaka Takeuchi

The Wise Company: How Companies Create Continuous Innovation

The Wise Company: How Companies Create Continuous Innovation

leadership·10 min read

The Wise Company explores how organizations can cultivate wisdom to achieve sustainable innovation and long-term success. Building on their earlier work on knowledge-creating companies, Nonaka and Takeuchi argue that true innovation arises from practical wisdom (phronesis) — the ability to make decisions that are both effective and ethically sound. Drawing on case studies from Japanese and global firms, the authors present a framework for leadership and organizational design that integrates knowledge, ethics, and purpose.

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Key Insights from Ikujiro Nonaka, Hirotaka Takeuchi

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From Knowledge Creation to Wisdom

When I first developed the SECI model—Socialization, Externalization, Combination, and Internalization—it reflected my belief that organizational knowledge is dynamic. Tacit knowledge, rooted in human experience, interacts constantly with explicit knowledge to generate new ideas and practices. Howev...

From The Wise Company: How Companies Create Continuous Innovation

2

The Nature of Practical Wisdom

Aristotle’s concept of *phronesis* has guided my thinking for decades. Unlike *sophia*, which refers to abstract theoretical wisdom, *phronesis* is about knowing how to act rightly in particular situations. It is contextual, ethical, and deeply human. For managers, this means that wisdom is the abil...

From The Wise Company: How Companies Create Continuous Innovation

About Ikujiro Nonaka, Hirotaka Takeuchi

Ikujiro Nonaka is a Japanese organizational theorist best known for his work on knowledge management and the SECI model of knowledge creation. Hirotaka Takeuchi is a professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of several influential works on innovation and management. Together, they have shap...

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Ikujiro Nonaka is a Japanese organizational theorist best known for his work on knowledge management and the SECI model of knowledge creation. Hirotaka Takeuchi is a professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of several influential works on innovation and management. Together, they have shaped modern understanding of how organizations create and sustain knowledge.

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Ikujiro Nonaka is a Japanese organizational theorist best known for his work on knowledge management and the SECI model of knowledge creation. Hirotaka Takeuchi is a professor at Harvard Business School and co-author of several influential works on innovation and management.

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