Japanese Technology and Innovation Management: From Know-How to Know-Who - Hardcover

Harryson, Sigvald

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1858987687 ISBN 13: 9781858987682

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing, 1998

Synopsis

Many companies today are unable to respond fast enough to market shifts because they have concentrated too much on making technology more specialized to their own needs, hoping that this will preserve their competitive edge. Unfortunately, this has actually left many R&D staff short of the cross-functional skills they need to enable large projects to work.

This innovative and original book, written by a leading management consultant, addresses these concerns and provides new insights into the theories and practices of innovation management. Ultimately, this book argues, the innovation process is no longer limited to 'know-how' but depends instead on 'know-who'. For companies to remain competitive and respond to market shifts, they must change their focus from internal specialization to learning through relationships. Three in-depth case studies from Canon, Sony and Toyota demonstrate the intracorporate benefits of external collaboration. This book provides concrete examples on how these companies use the principles of open sharing ideas, technologies and human resources; and performance measurement systems that reward cooperation and collective achievements. More importantly, it links the Japanese 'learning through know-who principle' with these practices in order to explain the high R&D performance, reduced development lead-times and improved overall competitiveness of these three firms.

This book will be of great interest to business managers, international scholars of R&D and innovation and postgraduate students taking courses in technology and innovation.

About this title

About the Author

Sigvald J. Harryson, Founding MD, Harryson Consulting with offices in Switzerland and Sweden, Visiting Associate Professor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark and Director, International Partnerships, Lund University, Sweden

Edition details

• Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing
• Publication date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1858987687
• ISBN 13: 9781858987682
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272