Knowledge Creation Through the Networks of Strategic Communities

This chapter provides a new point of view regarding the knowledge management and leadership theory of NPD, a high-tech field requiring the merging and integration of different technologies. As in-depth case studies, the author examines the dynamism of the knowledge creation process in NPD at Fujitsu Ltd., a traditional Japanese telecommunications manufacturer, as it merges and integrates the different elements of broadband network technology, computer and software technology, and multimedia processing technology. In a short period of time, a strategic team at Fujitsu, consisting mainly of undisclosed cross-functional middle managers transcending Fujitsu’s business divisions, formed SCs inside and outside the company, including customers, and then formed a network that transcended the SCs’ boundaries. In this chapter, the author identifies four factors that are important in integrating the different bodies of knowledge that various SCs have. This chapter also points out that the dialectical leadership of community leaders that form the leadership-based SC produces synthesizing capabilities as networked SCs, and that these capabilities integrate the knowledge that is the core technology of each SC, build a new business model, and create new knowledge in the form of successful NPD.