Knowledge-Driven Work: Unexpected Lessons from Japanese and United States Work Practices

The daily work experiences of people in almost any part of the world are shaped by workplace innovations. This book provides a close-up of eight Japanese affiliated manufacturing facilities operating in the United States, tracing the flow of ideas from Japan to the US and the beginnings of a reverse diffusion of innovation back to Japan. Arguing that traditional conceptions of knowledge in the workplace are incomplete, the author introduces the concept of "virtual knowledge" to reflect the elusive, yet critical understandings that are a function of particular combinations of people. He reveals how some organizations have anticipated and channeled the virtual knowledge that is constantly emerging from different groups in the organization, a process that is part of a much larger process of global diffusion from Japan, the US, and other nations to all parts of the world.