Abstract
This article looks at the inter-linkages and causalities between innovation and knowledge management in terms of sustainable development goals through the case study method. Taking the case of the Toyota Prius, these concepts are further developed in detail. Recognising the fact that no organisational process can happen in a vacuum and that there are a host of extraneous factors that have a significant impact on the process, factors such as culture, vision, incentives are also examined here. Further, this article delves into some of the characteristics that successful organisations display and seeks to extrapolate from the specific to general implications for organisations that aim to be successfully innovative.
Highlights
While technological changes occur through non-linear cycles of incremental and radical innovations (Nonaka and Peltokorpi, 2006); the emergence of a radical innovation has devastating effects on the old technological and even economic systems (Schumpeter, 1934)
The innovation that was the Toyota Prius was pathbreaking in several ways: 1) It was a completely new product line and was an image-changing product for the automobile manufacturer
2) The innovation was not limited to any one set of components, such as the chassis or the engine, but was embodied in most individual systems such as engine, motor, braking etc. and their combination into the hybrid form, thereby ensuring the development and ownership of several technologies that were later applied in other product lines
Summary
3) We live in a hypercompetitive world, where “continuous changes in the state of knowledge produce new disequilibrium situations and new profit opportunities” (Jacobsen, 1992) at an everincreasing rate. The second generation Prius is reflective of the speed with which Toyota took to the new R&D method, which was a by-product of a radical innovation, and of the quantum of incremental innovation that it was able to achieve as is well documented in the technological superiority of the product over its predecessor This framework models the stimulus for this product as being the tacit knowledge inherent in customer reactions to and purchasing patterns of the first-generation Prius, thereby leading to another round of the SECI spiral. The company hopes to create economies of scale that would have beneficial impacts on inputs, industry-wide innovation (to develop external sources of ideas), as well as potentially impact governing legislation in a way that could positively develop the market
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