Annual World Bank Conference on Development in Latin America and the Caribbean - 1999 Proceedings: Decentralization and Accountability of the Public Sector (Proceedings)

Book Description

Small is better, especially in the early years of schooling

How can we put into action what parents and teachers have known for years? Small classes for young children just make sense, and now research proves it. This accessible book provides the evidence to bring common sense into the classroom.

In this clear and concise book, Achilles offers:

Interpretation of findings from a solid foundation of research: the Student Teacher Achievement Ratio (STAR); the DuPont Study; and the Lasting Benefits Study (LBS)
Vignettes, stories, and observations by practitioners on the front line that demonstrate specific applications of teaching and learning activities in small classes
Positive effects and lifelong outcomes of small classes
Insights into the impact of class size on social problems, physical and monetary considerations, and environmental conditions
Evidence to back up supporters who advocate small classes in school

This book is designed for school leaders, teachers, administrators, students, and anyone who cares about the future of education in America. Don’t let good research go to waste. Small classes may come just in time to save the next generation of children.

Customer Reviews:

Beyond Stalled Thinking in International Relations Conflicts.......2004-09-25

The authors explain their purpose as follows, "We are not looking for a perfect solution." In most cases, the perfect solution is unattainable or will be endlessly delayed. A workable solution is much to be preferred. On the other hand, the power of this approach is clearly a major contribution to the conflict resolution literature, and contains insights that you would do well to capture and apply for yourself.

The book references Machiavelli in the title because he first asked the question of what once should advise princes. Since then, there has not been enough progress in answering that question. The book makes good headway in adding new insights and directions.

Although this book is aimed at (and explicitly discusses) conflicts in international relations, the authors also report that those using these techniques in negotiating workshops and exercises found them helpful in resolving business and legal issues as well. Having studied the book, heard Professor Fisher speak about it, and participated in a workshop to use this approach, I agree with that assessment. You can think of this book as the next phase beyond the landmark book, Getting to Yes, that Professor Fisher also coauthored.

Anyone who has gone to law school (which I admit I am guilty of) will recognize familiar elements of the legal analysis process. Yet the application is new and powerful.

Essentially, this book gives you the guidelines and examples you need to create:

-- a checklist of steps to analyze conflict

-- a set of analytic tools to figure out why the conflict is not settled and to offer a new approach that is better

-- an action plan built from a 2 page digest of a proposal, a 1 page list of talking points, and a to-do list for each party as next steps.

You are exhorted to focus on points of choice for the adversary, looking to your purposes in planning your moves rather than just reacting to what the other side does, and carefully choosing your purposes.

The process basically involves role playing that begins with seeing the problem from the point of view of the other side (this is nicely summarized in tables that show side-by-side comparisons of views on the same conflict elements); focusing on the choices open to the other side and influencing those choices (using tools of message analysis to get to intent); generating fresh ideas (by looking at the problem, diagnosing choices, looking at the approach being used, and reviewing action plans); formulating good advice ("What decision do you want the adverary to choose?"); and helping remove the causes of conflicts with process changes (creating new mediators, training people in this way of thinking, etc.).

The examples in the book cover every major conflict that you are likely to be familiar with in the last 40 years. They provide a useful reference point to the book's principles.

I was particularly impressed with the discussion of how to determine which advice is moral, and how to frame solutions so they would be well understood.

The key to this approach is to break down your thinking into step-by-step, smaller pieces. Those of you who have read Six Thinking Hats will recognize the benefits this can bring. By doing this, you can dissipate your own in-going perspective to capture the perspective of the person you want to convince.

Well done!

Good luck in using this approach to overcome misconception, communication, disbelief, procrastination, and bureaucratic stalls!

Book Description

The definitive guide on how to use benchmarking to discover what great companies do that make them "the best"...it's an AMACOM best-seller!

The original edition of this book was the first guide to present a pragmatic model for using the breakthrough quality tool called "benchmarking." In the eight years since, readers have gobbled up over 80,000 copies. The new second edition is a thorough update and includes scores of fresh examples and current "lessons learned" from world-class benchmarkers such as Ford, Lucent, USAA, Dow Corning, Intel, Kodak, Dupont, and Sprint. Readers learn how to:

* Master the basics: determining what products or processes to benchmark, forming a team, identifying partners, collecting and analyzing the information, taking action * Utilize recent modifications to the model and incorporate new protocols, research, and changes in deployment methods * Understand the connection between benchmarking and its subset, known as "best practices"--a field that's received much recent attention * Take advantage of e-mail, the Internet, and intranets--and the tremendous impact these developments are having on the state of benchmarking today.

Customer Reviews:

A useful guide for application and implementation.......2006-02-28

I work for a book summary company. One of the books selected for summary is this book.

The fact that this book is into its second edition after a gap of 8 years, speak volumes of the quality and utility of the book. The author has given the book a complete overhauling by providing new examples and cases of leading global benchmakers such as Intel, Dow Corning, Lucent, Dupont, and many others to drive home the point. The concept of `benchmarking' as a quality tool and criterion was first initiated by the author and has now taken firm roots in the current highly competitive and crowded global markets. Benchmarking is a continuous process where products or services uphold the best practices not just at the competitive or even national level but at the global level. It provides a paradigm for others to emulate. Starting from the categories of products and services, work processes, support functions, organizational performance and strategy that entail benchmarking to outlining the 5-step process of benchmarking, viz., evaluating what to benchmark, constituting a benchmarking team, enlisting partners and sources, gathering and assessing the information up to the final level of implementing on the basis of the assessment undertaken, the book provides a comprehensive mechanism for all organizations to observe and follow. In this age of absolute quality consciousness, it has become a dire need for all companies to strive to adopt the best practices in order to stand counted or run the risk of being discarded and overrun. This book no doubt is a useful guide for entrepreneurs and senior level executives who are at the decisive end of management for ensuring its application and implementation.

Packed With Knowledge!.......2001-03-24

Michael J. Spendolini forgoes the usual generalities of management theory in favor of a how-to practicality. The first edition of his book helped to establish the concept of benchmarking in the mainstream of organizational practice. For those of you who don't know, benchmarking is a continuous-improvement strategy that seeks to improve products, services or operations by comparing them with the best practices of industry competitors and other companies nationally and worldwide. Spendolini offers a five-step model that can be applied by any company. He also provides a helpful, step-by-step guide to applying the process, though he does get a little repetitive as he describes the model and details each step. But we [...] nevertheless recommend this book to managers and executives as perhaps the best benchmarking primer on the shelf.

Book Description

Examining some of the new and emerging issues in strategic management, Loizos Heracleous presents an original approach to the established ideas of strategy. He emphasizes the importance of organizational culture in realizing strategy and applies this concept to such important new areas as corporate governance and the impact of the Internet on business organization and activity. Combining original research with thorough surveys of the literature, the book is intended for MBA level students, researchers and professionals.

Book Description

From the author of Lords of the Horizons, the fascinating story of a new kind of money for a new world. Money has always been at the heart of the American experience. Paper money itself, invented in Boston in 1698, was a classic of American ingenuity-and American disregard for authority and tradition. With the wry and admiring eye of a modern De Tocqueville, Jason Goodwin has written a biography of the dollar giving us the story of its astonishing career through the wilds of American history. Greenback looks at the dollar over the years as a form of art, a kind of advertising, a reflection of American attitudes, and a builder of empires. Goodwin shows us how the dollar rolled out the frontier, peopled the Plains; how it erected the great cities; how it expressed the urges of democracy and opportunity. And above all, he introduces us to the people who championed-or ambushed-the dollar over the years: presidents, artists, pioneers and frontiersmen, bankers shady and upright, safe-blowers, and crooks and dreamers of every stripe. It's a vast and colorful cast of characters, all agreed on one thing: getting the money right was the key to unlocking liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Greenback delves into folklore and the development of printing, investigates wildcats and counterfeiters, explains why a buck is a buck and how Dixie got its name. Like Goodwin's Lords of the Horizons, another story of empire, Greenback brings an array of quirky detail and surprising-often hilarious-anecdote to tell the story of America through its best-beloved product.

Customer Reviews:

Evolution of the dollar..........2005-03-11

I'm a professional currency trader, so I bought this book to learn more about the history of the US Dollar going back to its creation. This book does give a lot of the history of the dollar, but unfortunately it is rather boring. Some of the stories are enjoyable and possibly apocryphal, but the book is still a very slow read. 90+% of the book is devoted to the history of the US currency prior to the 20th century, so be prepared for some deep history of colonial America. There is a lot of good information in the book, but sadly, the story is boring.

Another entertaining and instructive book by J. Goodwin.......2003-08-22

Jason Goodwin is a polarizing author, whose books are either hated or loved by his readers. As in his best-known previous book, "Lords of the Horizons", in "Greenback" he uses a lot of wonderful anecdotes to spice up his prose and keep the reader interested. As in that book, his grasp of the essence of the subject is pretty good, although one could disagree in the details.

I am one of those readers who choose to stay away from rigorous, traditional history books because I am turned off by the stuffiness and the pedantic detailed narrative that they often provide. (I came to this end after having read a good deal of them...) I believe that the history of any subject is the sum of the personal histories of the people who participated and formed those events, famous or obscure, big or small. Jason Goodwin gives us plenty of those little personal stories and thank God for that as far as I am concerned.

I found this book very enjoyable to read and rich in information, although not as exciting as "Lords of the Horizons", so I am giving it 4 stars instead of the 5 I gave that one. I hope Jason Goodwin keeps giving us those great books on his diverse subjects and full of those colorful characters, and I am looking forward to his next book of non-sterilized history.

Milestones in the Evolution of Value Storage.......2003-05-28

This is a very enjoyable work, well-written and researched, with numerous anecdotes and sidelights. I thought particularly strong the early chapters on colonial and post-revolution America. One sees in Jefferson an early version of a common type today: the person who is adamantly opposed to debt and credit instruments because he himself is hopelessly swamped in debt. Today's debt paranoiac shuns credit cards and deferred payment schemes of all stripes in favor of cash (paper dollars and checks drawn on bank accounts). But for Jefferson those very paper dollars and banks were suspect. For him, the only "real" money was metallic: gold or silver. The only stores of value in his opinion were coins or bullion or land.

This brought him into opposition to Hamilton, who wanted to inaugurate the new republic by assuming a huge load of debt (all the promises of payment represented by the wartime "Continentals"). Hamilton had a plan to set up a bank and issue paper money backed by gold reserves which didn't exist yet, but which he was confident could be built up by land sales and import duties. His plan, a risky scheme in Jefferson's opinion, was approved by Congress, and our little country began its life with a whopping 42 million dollar debt (p. 102). In spite of Jefferson's misgivings, the scheme worked so well that some twenty years later Jefferson himself was able to double the nation's land area by buying Louisiana from Napoleon.

I was disappointed that in this book, devoted as it is to various forms the dollar took over the years, no mention was made of the exact type of payment by Jefferson for Louisiana. Was it gold bullion? American gold dollars? Spanish gold dollars? Was there some of the paper money that he so despised? Was there a mortgage involved? Or a more racy installment plan (No interest and no payments until May 1808, or until the emperor conquers Russia, whichever comes first! Don't delay! Act now!)

"Greenback" then goes into satisfying detail on the banknote phenomenon, the system of the 19th century whereby banks printed notes (dollars, promises to pay) and either backed them up or did not back them up with gold in their vaults. As I understand it, the US government did not start printing such notes until the Civil War, and it did not become the sole legal printer of dollars until the 1920s. I would have liked more detail about how that latter change came about. What was the exact last day when you could use a dollar printed by a bank. Why did they wait so long to pass such a law, which seems perfectly natural to us now? Might the conversion have had anything to do with the subsequent worldwide depression? All fascinating questions for a follow-up volume which I hope will come from the febrile pen of Mr. Goodwin.

BAD History - Light.......2003-04-09

Simply put, this is a bad book. It is poorly written and is bad history.

When the author stops digressing, he has many unimportant and trivial anecdotes about the dollar in American history.

His interpretation of American history is terrible. Just a few examples: Early in the book he cited Hawthorne, Thoreau and Twain (who lost a fortune trying to be an industrialist) to reach the conclusion that Americans did not collect and hoard money in the nineteenth century. Apparently he did not read the rest of his book which went on ad nauseum about Americans in the nineteenth century chasing and counterfeiting the dollar. In another instance he concludes that all civil rights were suspended during the civil war (not that this had anything to do with $) - completely ignoring the fact that the Supreme Court overturned Lincoln's attempt to suspend habeas corpus. Lastly (I could go on and on), he finished the book by noting that on our dollar bills are the icons that were present at the birth of our nation. This, after telling how Grant and Cleveland were on our bills! Last I looked they lived late in the next century.

I kept hoping that some pearls about the dollar would come shining through. Whatever pearls there might have been were muddied by his erroneous history and his horrible interpretations of the history he included.

I felt I wasted a good deal of time reading this book. If one wants to read the only useful part of this book, limit yourself to the chapter(s) describing the private banknotes. Nothing before or after is at all worthwhile.

A good read, but know your history!.......2003-03-18

I am about halfway through this book. It is a pretty good book; it has an intriguing subject. But it is a bit confusing, and Mr. Goodwin has a tendency to go offtrack. Also, be prepared to know your history, because a lot of the people mentioned do not have introductions and/or biographies. Overall, this book is pretty good.

Greenback: The Almighty Dollar and the Invention of America

Average customer rating:

Greenback: The Almighty Dollar and the Invention of America
JASON GOODWIN
Manufacturer: Audio Renaissance / Henry Holt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: B000K0KA46

Average customer rating:

Greenback: The Almighty Dollar and the Invention of America

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette
ASIN: 073669241X

Average customer rating:

Greenback: The Almighty Dollar and the Invention of America
Jason Goodwin
Manufacturer: Henry Holt & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0641654456

Average customer rating:

Greenback The Almighty Dollar and the Invention of America
Jason. Goodwin
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTNYHS

Book Description

From long, first-hand experience as president of his own financial advertising agency, Alec Benn offers a unique, inside look at America's investment community, at a time of changes so profound that their impact and implications are still with us. Based not on public relations handouts (although he himself has written them) but on frank, revealing talks with people who actually participated in the events of those tumultuous seven years, on official oral histories (hitherto concealed), and on his own keen observations, Benn shows how those events and changes really occurred. He reveals that The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) was in far greater peril of collapse in 1970 than anyone, except a few insiders, has ever known. He exposes how many of the most significant changes ever to affect investors really came about. And he provides new insights into the people who caused, influenced, or sometimes opposed the reforms we now take for granted, as well as into the impact of historical figures such as Richard Nixon and Ross Perot. Informative, entertaining, and impeccably researched and documented, Benn's book gives us new information to help evaluate the investment world of today, and to appreciate how dangerous it was at another time, a time that some say appears uncomfortably familiar. Among the many topics Benn examines in depth is the creation of the Securities Investors Protection Corporation, the agency that insures against loss of the cash and securities left by investors in their brokers' hands. He shows how stock brokers' commissions came to be competitive and low, instead of fixed and high (a special benefit for today's day traders), and how members of The New York Stock Exchange became able to sell shares in their firms to the general public, opening a bountiful source of permanent capital. He goes on to cover the creation of the Central Certificate System, which led to a dramatic increase in trading volume later, and how the NYSE was reorganized, benefiting not only members but investors as well. Benn also explores how NYSE member firms became authorized to sell annuities and other insurance products, in itself a billion-dollar business. Finally, in an especially telling chapter, he discusses how and why discrimination on Wall Street based on class, religion, race, and gender declined (and by inference, why in some places it still lingers.)

Customer Reviews:

A Must Have For Wall Street Buffs.......2002-12-03

Terrific explanation of a time many have forgotten, when Wall Street nearly collapsed not from scandal but from hubris, incompetence, and just plain sloppiness. Remember when the markets were closed on Wednesdays so firms could process their paperwork? How about Ross Perots adventure to conquer the street? Me neither. Unless you lived it, you'll never get closer to knowing how many times the whole ballgame nearly came undone.

Average customer rating:

A Terrific Collection of Marketing Ideas. . .

Smart Marketing: 52 Brilliant Tips & Techniques to Boost Your Profits and Expand Your Business
Jeff Slutsky , and Marc Slutsky
Manufacturer: Career Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Advertising | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Skills | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

How to Get Clients

Streetfighter Marketing

Streetfighting: Low-Cost Advertising/Promotion Strategies for Your Small Business

1001 Ways to Market Your Services : For People Who Hate to Sell

Covert Persuasion: Psychological Tactics and Tricks to Win the Game

ASIN: 1564143627

Customer Reviews:

A Terrific Collection of Marketing Ideas. . ........1999-08-19

WoW!! I got so turned on to do more and more marketing after reading this book that I got waaaaay more than 52 ideas from it. My mind was spinning. You'll love this book.

Average customer rating:

Disappointing and more Entertaing than Informative

Powerful ideas that do not hold together as well as they could.

Powerful topic for leaders, managers and entrepreneurs

over-rated book, pompous writing with little content.

Readable but very simplistic

Do Lunch or Be Lunch: The Power of Predictability in Creating Your Future
Howard H. Stevenson , Jeffrey L. Cruikshank , and Mihnea C. Moldoveanu
Manufacturer: Harvard Business School Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Harvard Business School Press | By Publisher | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Industrial | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Planning & Forecasting | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Entrepreneurship | Small Business & Entrepreneurship | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Leading Change

Make Your Own Luck : 12 Practical Steps to Taking Smarter Risks in Business

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity

The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference

ASIN: 0875847978

Amazon.com

Everything we do is aimed at the future. Like our ancestors who millions of years ago took it upon themselves to do lunch instead of be lunch, the better we are at evaluating all possible futures, the better our future will be. Harvard Business School professor Howard Stevenson argues that predictability is a core human need and the more predictable we can make ourselves, the better we'll be able to predict our future and the futures of those around us.

Do Lunch or Be Lunch is a counterweight to the management trends that have swept business in the last few years. Trends such as reengineering, downsizing, and maximizing shareholder value will in most cases not be successful because they are fundamentally unpredictable for employees and employers alike. On the other hand, the more predictable a company can make itself, the more effective it will be. Stevenson peppers the book with his observations that come from his experience as an entrepreneur and founder of several businesses as well as his tenure on the board of directors for over 25 companies.

Book Description

Here is a refreshing antidote to the change manifestos and reinvention tracts that currently crowd the business bookshelves. Do Lunch or Be Lunch is a provocative argument for predictability as the most powerful of management tools.

People join organizations to bring about a desired future. But to succeed, they must be able to predict the behavior of those around them. By the same token, they must make themselves predictable. It's mutual predictability that makes for successful organizations and helps people (and organizations) eat-not get eaten!

In a fresh and engaging style, Stevenson sounds the alarm on behalf of predictability. He shows how the deep need to predict and shape the future drives most of human behavior. Now, he argues, predictability is imperiled. This is true especially in business organizations, which undermine predictability when they arbitrarily dismiss employees or use self-interest as the basis for all decision-making. In fact, the organization that embraces predictability enhances its own effectiveness; by contrast, the company that thrives on unpredictability is not only inhumane, but also incompetent. Explaining that predictability and change are not mutually exclusive, Stevenson analyzes popular change programs like reengineering, continuous improvement, and restructuring as he makes a powerful case for understanding and preparing for the consequences of change before setting it in motion.

The book presents tools to hone predictive powers, make decisions, and measure risk, as well as to understand conflict and improve human interactions. It is as much a useful lens for individuals as they interpret their own lives as for corporations as they predict and improve on their own futures.

Passionate, down-to-earth, and highly readable, Do Lunch or Be Lunch will entertain you, make you think, and prompt you to action-to become a leader in helping people cope with change and in ensuring a successful (and profitable) future.

Customer Reviews:

Disappointing and more Entertaing than Informative.......2006-03-07

More entertaining than informative, the content does not live up to the catchy and appealing title. Surprisingly, there is only one reference in the index to risk, a subject at the heart of predictability. References to Nikita Khrushchev, Richard Nixon, Bob Dole and the Rolling Stones add limited substantive value to the book. Chapter One did wet my appetite, but the rest was disappointing. By far the best book on the history, role and need for predictability I have read to date is Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk by Peter Bernstein.

Powerful ideas that do not hold together as well as they could........2006-01-25

The basic ideas of predictability and projectability as laid out in Do Lunch or Be Lunch are powerful ones. Stevenson makes a very good (and generally overlooked) point about why communities and corporations exist and what they are expected to provide in terms of framework and structure. There are many many companies today that could do with absorbing some of these home lessons. This book is aimed straight at the companies that are so busy maximizing share price that they forget the expectations of workers and customers alike.

The book works best as a kind of system analysis and is least useful when it reaches its chapter on practical tips and models. While some of the models are good, they do not seem to follow as organically as the earlier chapters and felt less relevant than the earlier high level outline of ideas.

The title is unfortunately misleading, leading many to think that this is a book about networking and not predictability. I was also irritated by the footnotes. The footnotes are arranged by chapter number but the header bar in the page only lists the chapter title, so I was forced into some irritating flipping back and forth to find the correct note.

The interesting ideas and high quality writing would make it a book that I would recommend. I suspect that its appeal would be largest to managers, potential entrepeneurs, or strategy consultants.

Powerful topic for leaders, managers and entrepreneurs.......2001-03-08

Howard Stevenson has identified one of the most powerful undercurrents of human relationships; predictability. I will admit that I read this book because I already knew him, but then found that the material pulled me in. As an entrepreneur, I had to convince many people to follow my ideas and plans. Although I prided myself on my sales skills, I was still sometimes humbled that people would trust me with hundreds of thousands or millions of their dollars. Do Lunch or Be Lunch helped me to understand how predictability impacted those decisions. It takes the lid off of one of the key ingredients to how people make decisions whether they relate to work, investments, love, or anything. Humans are constantly assessing and guessing their futures. If their future depends on you, it is wise to be honest, open, and easy to predict. By increasing your own predictability, you directly influence the comfort level of those around you. People will take on great hardships and difficulties when they know the risks. As a leader, you don't want to be one of them. This book should be read by managers, entrepreneurs, and anyone who needs to lead people.

-A retired CEO and current Venture Capitalist

over-rated book, pompous writing with little content........1998-09-25

Excellent subject. Poor subject exploitation in the book. Written in pompous professor-style which may amuse his students... I consider it a waste of my time. Excellent marketing job on the book, though... chapeau!

Readable but very simplistic.......1998-03-31

The authors have a good idea, but they really only have an essay's worth of material. The two concepts of predictability and projectability are useful, and should indeed serve as the basis for most decisionmaking, business or otherwise. However, the book as a whole is very light.

Book Description

This book brings together the research of a number of scholars in the field of knowledge creation and imparts a sense of order to the field. The chapters share three characteristics: they are all grounded in extensive qualitative and/or quantitative research; they all go beyond the mere description of the knowledge-creation process and offer both theoretical and strategic implications; they share a view of knowledge creation and knowledge transfer as delicate processes, necessitating particular forms of support from managers.

Customer Reviews:

A compilation of organisational/international KM practices.......2003-01-23

This book provides a collection of diverse perspectives on knowledge activities ranging from creativity and technology infrastructure to cross-border knowledge creation and sectoral strategies in Asia.

The material is academic and well-researched; it covers 15 chapters from 19 contributors, most of them professors from US and Japanese universities. The book is the outcome of a KM conference sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.

Ikujiro Nonaka is the author of "The Knowledge-Creating Company" and "Enabling Knowledge Creation." Toshihiro Nishiguchi is the author of "Strategic Industrial Sourcing" and "Managing Product Development."

A fundamental thread uniting these essays is the idea that knowledge must be "nurtured" rather than "managed," according to the editors.

The Japanese term ba refers to a space-time nexus, the physical and/or mental space shared by co-workers, whose nature defines the scale and scope of knowledge creation through its various phases like socialization (originating ba), externalization (dialoguing ba), combination (systematizing ba) and internalization (exercising ba).

Care is an important requisite for building trust for knowledge-sharing in an organization. There are four modes of knowledge creation, depending on whether there is low care (individuals are left to their own; employees therefore exchange explicit knowledge) or high care (individuals are supported by a strong social network; tacit knowledge is shared) and whether there is creation of individual or organizational knowledge.

Such humanistic models of knowledge emergence encompass "wandering inside and outside" the organization, and accommodate emotional facets like freedom, interest, commitment, charisma and safety. Notable examples include the Seven-Eleven chain in Japan (through practices like the use of field counselors to encourage dialogue and idea sharing) and Maekawa Seisakusho (through knowledge vision for building and energizing ba).

"Certain types of knowledge can be created and communicated only through sharing time and space together," according to the authors.

New IT platforms and tools along with human-oriented approaches can help greatly in knowledge sharing processes: CAD/CAM/CAE (which improve the efficiency of product developers' inductive, deductive and abductive reasoning processes), simulation (to encourage experimentation), and prototyping (to refine solution models).

The authors call for a blend of human-oriented as well as systematic-rationality-oriented approaches to KM. For instance, companies like Boeing resort to advanced computer networks as well as co-location of project members.

In industries like software ("the quintessential knowledge industry"), the knowledge component in the end-products is nearly total. Companies like Microsoft use a "synch-and-stabilise" strategy (in contrast to a sequential "waterfall" model) where teams work in parallel, synchronise their activities, and periodically stabilize the multiple releases.

Cross-border knowledge creation within multinational companies involves IT platforms, identification of centers of excellence, customer/partner alliances, links with expert organization/universities/thinktanks, and a mix of short-, medium- and long-term movements of people across borders.

Dispersed innovation centers in countries around the globe are leading to joint knowledge creation at local and global levels in MNCs, which thus function as knowledge-creating networks. Nonaka identifies this cross-border synergistic process as "global knowledge creation" and sees it as the key process of globalisation.

Challenges can arise here in enabling knowledge transfers between cultures with differing levels of egalitarian work cultures, and in appointment of managers in foreign branches depending on variations in management style. According to research by Ronnie Lessem and Franz-Friedrich Neubauer, the Anglo-Saxon orientation to knowledge creation can be categorized as pragmatic, the French-Nordic as rational, Japanese as holistic, and Latin as humanistic.

Symbiotic co-evolution of organizations can also create knowledge, as evinced in the Japanese aircraft and electronics industries and the South Korean chip company Samsung.

Cooperation across entire industrial sectors occurs with varying levels of intensity and collective benefits in different countries of the world. For instance, it may be the case that US companies are better at learning from and with competitors than Japanese companies.

Samsung leveraged a variety of techniques like "knowledge catch-up" mode (prevalent in many emerging economies), knowledge pioneering, knowledge exposure, co-opetition, absorptive capacity, migratory knowledge (from the Korean diaspora), M&As, and pro-actively creating internal crises to intensify the work pace and accelerate the process of knowledge conversion, according to Linsu Kim, author of "Imitation to Innovation: The Dynamics of Korea's Technological Learning."

Other cultural factors - such as the extremely hard-working habits of the people of South Korea, its cramped and cold environment, memories of Japanese occupation, and a determination to out-compete Japan - cannot be duplicated in other countries, according to Kim.

In sum, this is an informative and wide-ranging book, and opens the door to many more research questions, working hypotheses, and KM methodologies. It forms an effective bridge between other books that focus either on the organizational or sectoral/national aspects of innovation, knowledge and competitiveness.

Average customer rating:
Knowledge Emergence: Social, Technical, and Evolutionary Dimensions Of Knowledge Creation. (Book Reviews). (book review): An article from: Journal of Economic Issues
John J. Hisnanick
Manufacturer: Association for Evolutionary Economics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008FI6RG
Release Date: 2005-07-30

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Journal of Economic Issues, published by Association for Evolutionary Economics on September 1, 2002. The length of the article is 1208 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Knowledge Emergence: Social, Technical, and Evolutionary Dimensions Of Knowledge Creation. (Book Reviews). (book review)
Author: John J. Hisnanick
Publication: Journal of Economic Issues (Refereed)
Date: September 1, 2002
Publisher: Association for Evolutionary Economics
Volume: 36 Issue: 3 Page: 819(3)

Article Type: Book Review

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