Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation

by Dorothy Leonard-Barton

Argues that knowledge is a renewable asset and a competitive advantage, and shows ways companies can effectively build and manage knowledge

Genres: Business, Management

334 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 1995

Reviews

[Jack Vinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a great job of describing how companies build the culture of innovation. Leonard describes corporate cultures that enable innovation, describing various aspects, or core competencies, that all work to engender innovation. Each of these aspects can also be turned on its tail to turn into a “core rigidity,” preventing the organization from learning or blossoming new knowledge. The book is very well-written and is full of examples from years of case studies, both positive and negative. 

The heart of the book is broken down into five chapters describing each of these aspects (two for Importing Knowledge): 
· Problem Solving: figuring out why something happened as a way to learn something new, or a new aspect about a process. This capability focuses on the present company. 
· Implementing and Integrating: building or combining systems/tools makes it possible to move companies in new directions. This capability focuses on internal systems, tools and processes. 
· Experimenting: this “traditional” approach to generating knowledge is to experiment, either in the laboratory or around the model or with organizational structures. This capability looks to the future growth of the organization. 
· Importing Knowledge: learn something new by bringing it in from the outside through acquisitions, mergers, alliances, consortia, hiring, attending meetings, etc. New knowledge can also be imported by examining the market. This capability looks outside the company for new information. 

The penultimate chapter pushes the boundaries of “the organization” with a discussion of how innovation can carry over to joint ventures and co-development in sister organizations that are spread around the world. Leonard focuses on developing countries to highlight the difficulties encountered when moving from a centralized research organization to a highly distributed organization, where innovation can come from literally any aspect of the business. 

The last chapter summarizes some key characteristics of companies that pursue knowledge management: 
· Enthusiasm for knowledge 
· Drive to stay ahead in knowledge 
· Tight coupling among complimentary skill sets 
· Iteration or repetition in activities 
· Higher-order learning 
· Leaders who listen and learn 

[Mike Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

For people who are looking for an overview of capability management, this is a gem. You just have to skip over the case studies. I don't know whether they just haven't aged well or whether they always felt this dry, but the sagas of Chaparral Steel, GE Plastics, and many other companies are tedious and disconnecting, feeling like the kind of assigned reading that pulls you out of an interesting subject. Fortunately this isn't a course at Harvard and I could gloss over these speed bumps with impunity.

The main thread of the text is excellent, covering a complex topic with a simple and intuitive framework that has broad applicability.

[Phillip Rhodes · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the seminal texts in the sphere of Knowledge Management. Dorothy Leonard-Barton's book lays out a compelling case for the importance of managing knowledge creating activities and focusing on "core capabilities" as a source of strategic advantage, and the corresponding "core rigidities" that firms develop which inhibit innovation and growth. Even though the book is a bit dated now, and some of the case studies may not resonate with younger readers they way they would have with the original audience when the book was published, the content remains as valid as ever.

[Carl Gauger · Rating 4 out of 5]

As noted in the Introduction, Knowledge Management is concerned with both the repository and sources of knowledge as corporate assets. This book is mainly concerned with the latter. I read it years ago, and recently read it again, primarily because I didn't think I absorbed as much from it in round one as I ought to have. Part One covers the nature of business organizations, and identifies the importance of having and knowing the core capabilities--the things (especially knowledge) that constitute the competitive advantage of your firm. Building on this, it shows how these very capabilities can be the things that can cause you to lose your competitive edge. These core capabilities are also, to use the terminology of the book, core rigidities. These very strengths are simultaneously also weaknesses if they shut off sources of new kn

owledge or block out perspectives necessary to create or obtain knowledge that is essential to the future. Some of these will be familiar to most but the complete pathology, illustrated by numerous case studies, is very interesting.

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\nPart Two examines the essential activities through which a knowledge-rich corporate culture is created. This is the meat of the book and is worth reading very carefully. I won't try and summarize the entire section--suffice to say that its pages abound with insights into these activities and how they can be managed for technical innovation and--perhaps more to the point--how these activities can contribute to a culture where those habits of mind that make innovation happen as a matter of course are woven into the fabric of thinking and behavior. For those interested, these knowledge-creating activities are:

\n• Shared Problem Solving

\n• Implementing and Integrating New Processes & Tools

\n• Experimenting & Prototyping

\n• Importing & Absorbing Technical Knowledge from outside the Firm

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\nPart Two concludes with a chapter on Market Research, with attention given to rates of success and failure in new product development. It is helpful that the author follows some of the same case studies throughout the book, so one gets a better sense of the broad effects of their practices, rather than a smattering of selected statistical data.

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\nPart Three deals with the transfer of product development knowledge into developing nations, especially Asia. This was of particular interest to me since, at the time of this writing, I am working with a company with developing offices in Asia. I found this section very insightful, and much of it directly applicable to my experience. Cultural insight abounds, including some interesting observations about the effects of communism on Chinese culture and their implications for business with the West. The documented failures in this section will ring true for many; the successes will engender some hope and, perhaps, some insight as well.