Ikujiro Nonaka

was a Japanese organizational theorist and Professor at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy of the Hitotsubashi University, best known for his study of knowledge management.

Life and career

Nonaka was born in Tokyo on 10 May 1935, and as a child lived through World War II. His nationalist spirit led him to believe that Japan should adapt its technological and organizational skills. In 1958 Nonaka received his B.S. in political science from Waseda University.

After graduation Nonaka accepted a job at Fuji Electric, where he initiated a management program. This curriculum was further developed in the 1960s together with the business school of Keio University and offered to companies all over Japan. In 1967 Nonaka moved to the United States where in 1968 he obtained an MBA and in 1972 a PhD in Business Administration, both at the University of California, Berkeley.

Nonaka was the First Distinguished Drucker Scholar in Residence at the Drucker School and Institute, Claremont Graduate University; the Xerox Distinguished Faculty Scholar, Institute of Management, Innovation and Organization, UC Berkeley. Back in Japan he became professor at the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy of Hitotsubashi University.

Nonaka died from pneumonia on 25 January 2025, at the age of 89.

Work

Nonaka co-wrote several noteworthy articles with Hirotaka Takeuchi, a colleague at Hitotsubashi University, including:
* The article ''The New New Product Development Game'', in which they emphasised speed and flexibility for new product development. This article is considered to be one of the roots of the Scrum framework, one of the most used agile software development techniques.
* The Nonaka-Takeuchi model of accumulation of tacit knowledge.

In 2008, the ''Wall Street Journal'' listed him as one of the most influential persons on business thinking, and The Economist included him in its "Guide to Management Ideas and Gurus".Hindle, T. (2008). Guide to management ideas & gurus. Delhi: Profile Books.

Nonaka also proposed the '' SECI model'', to present the spiraling knowledge processes of interaction between explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. ''SECI'' is short for:
* Socialization
* Externalization
* Combination
* Internalization

Selected bibliography

* ''Essence of Failure: Organizational Study of the Japanese Armed Forces during the World War II'' (with R. Tobe, Y. Teramoto, S. Kamata, T. Suginoo and T. Murai), Tokyo: Diamond-sha, 1984 (in Japanese).
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* ''Enabling Knowledge Creation'' (with G. von Krogh and K. Ichijo), New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
* ''Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management'' (with co-authors), John Wiley (Asia), 2003.
* ''The Essence of Innovation'' (with A. Katsumi), Tokyo: Nikkei BP, 2004 (in Japanese).
* ''The Essence of Strategy'' (with co-authors), Tokyo: Nikkei BP, 2005 (in Japanese).
* ''Managing Flow'' (with T. Hirata and R. Toyama), Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
* ''The Core of Organization is People'' (with H. Sakai, H. Yoshida, T. Sakikawa, T. Hirata, K. Isomura and Yasunobu NARITA), Kyoto: Nakanishiya, 2009 (in Japanese).
* ''The Philosophy-Creating Company'' (with K. Genma, T. Hirata, K. Isomura and Yasunobu NARITA), Kyoto: Nakanishiya, 2012 (in Japanese).

;About Ikujiro Nonaka
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* Strategy Business Magazine article i
Winter 2008 issue

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nonaka, Ikujiro
1935 births
2025 deaths
Academics from Tokyo
Japanese business theorists
Fujitsu people
Waseda University alumni
University of California, Berkeley alumni
University of California, Berkeley fellows
Academic staff of Hitotsubashi University
Academic staff of Nanzan University
Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure, 3rd class
Deaths from pneumonia in Japan