Ma Theory and the Creative Management of Innovation

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. “Ma” and Innovation Management

Abstract

How do certain leading companies, organizations and individuals consistently achieve high quality innovations? The actions and thinking of leading practitioners (innovators and creators) originate in Ma thinking, the core theoretical concept presented in this book. In this chapter the concept of Ma is explained from the viewpoint of philosophy and beliefs (Shintoism and Buddhism), which have had a deep impact on Japanese culture. Ma is also defined as the holistic relationship that enables connection of continuous and discontinuous events and matters in distinct types of space-time (structured space-time vs. unstructured space-time). Through examples in business and management as well as art and architecture, the concept of Ma is explained as the trigger that promotes the coexistence of creativity and efficiency in people and organizations and achieves innovation.

Mitsuru Kodama

Chapter 2. The Five Types of Ma Thinking and Five Architect Capabilities: Theoretical Concepts

Abstract

Ma characteristics can be observed as phenomena (events and matters) in the daily hands-on activities of people working not only in business and management activities, but also in architecture, the arts, language, culture and so forth. Leading practitioners demonstrate Ma thinking either consciously or unconsciously to achieve innovations, doing so not only in the world of business and management but in other areas.

This chapter begins by presenting a theoretical concept of the five types of Ma thinking. It then provides a theoretical framework for the five architect capabilities that are born of Ma thinking, in the context of architect capability. Finally, the chapter identifies how the five architect capabilities of practitioners based on the five types of Ma thinking achieve innovation by dynamically synthesizing paradoxical thoughts and actions.

Mitsuru Kodama

Chapter 3. Ma Thinking and Innovation in Global High Tech Companies: The Lessons of Business Model Innovation in Apple and Cisco Systems

Abstract

This chapter examines Ma thinking and innovation in global high tech companies Apple and Cisco Systems by observing and analyzing the process of the dynamic formation of informal organizations free of the constraints of formal organizations, and the emergence of innovation through dynamic and recursive practice activities between formal and informal organizations from the perspective of Ma thinking. This chapter also identifies how new business model innovations originate in this dynamic recursion between formal and informal organizations based on the five types of Ma thinking as they engender five architect capabilities in practitioners.

Mitsuru Kodama, Takehiko Yasuda, Katsuhiko Hirasawa

Chapter 4. Managing Serendipity Through Ma Thinking: Lessons of the Invention and Commercialization of Blue LED (Awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics)

Abstract

The once completely unknown Nichia Corporation of Japan succeeded in commercializing blue LED technology and went on to become the world’s leading company in this field. Shuji Nakamura, the 2014 Physics Nobel Laureate (a researcher at the company at the time, and currently, Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara), made a significant contribution to this technology. Through a detailed study of the R&D process from basic research into blue LED and its later commercial development, this chapter examines how the intentional integration of Nakamura’s serendipitous awareness as a researcher together with management’s deep understanding of this serendipity drove the dialectical processes of dynamic recursive practice activities between management and Nakamura.

Mitsuru Kodama, Takehiko Yasuda

Chapter 5. Industrial Innovation with Ma Thinking: Lessons from Singapore’s Economic Development

Abstract

The promotion of a convergence of various industries rather than a development of individual industries as separate entities is an enlightened industrial policy. Synergy may be derived from the various industries and significant economic growth can follow. In this chapter, the author begins by analyzing the correlation between creative cities and cultural industries, then explores the rationale of the Singapore government in its commitment to fostering the development of creative industries to generate high added value. Singapore’s cultural industry policy in the 2000s is analyzed and the correlation of the formation of creative Ba and Ma thinking is discussed.

Takehiko Yasuda

Chapter 6. Use and Reproduction of Ma in Financial Cooperative Organizations in Japan: With a Focus on Ma in Japan and Financial Cooperatives

Abstract

Financial cooperative institutions in Japan, which are the main focus of this chapter, were introduced in Japan from Germany during the Meiji Period, but the model was not simply transplanted to Japan in its original form. It was modified and established in a form consistent with conditions of existence in Japan that would allow for its acceptance, and Ma constituted part of the conditions for its establishment. While the concept of a financial cooperative was introduced from overseas, Ma was one factor that set it apart from the model of its origins and allowed for its existence and development.

Tsutomu Hasegawa

Chapter 7. Green Innovation Based on Ma Thinking: The Lessons of the Japanese Smart City Vision

Abstract

This chapter takes a look at and analyzes specific initiatives underway in Japan for achieving smart cities. In this context, we will consider innovation processes where a group of companies from different business sectors together with national and local government use Ma thinking to create new knowledge to realize a smart city concept.

Nobuyuki Tokoro

Chapter 8. The Ma of Maeterlinck and Ma of Japanese Maeterlinckians

Abstract

These characteristics are commonly observed in Japanese traditional performing arts, and have been considered an important aspect of performance up until the present day. One wonders, however, whether they are uniquely Japanese. In this chapter, the author will attempt to answer this question by comparing the work of Maurice Maeterlinck (1862–1949), a symbolist writer whom the author has been researching for many years, with plays written by Japanese writers who were influenced by Maeterlinck at the time they wrote their works. As a place where living human beings perform in the flesh in front of a live audience, the theater presents a world of fiction and fantasy using drama as a medium but at the same time always conveys a sense of the here-and-now, no matter how many years previous the drama was written.

Mariko Anazawa

Chapter 9. Ma in Traditional Japanese Theater: The Ma of Space and Ma of Time

Abstract

The two greatest elements of traditional Japanese theater’s architectural history are the Noh stage and Kabuki theater. The characteristics of these two art forms are the Hashigakari of Noh theater and Kabuki’s Hanamichi. Neither plays a major role in the acting of their respective arts; however, both play extremely important roles regarding the relationship between the actors and the audience, and in the relationship of space and time of these traditional Japanese performing arts. This chapter reflects on the creation of these two elements and considers the flexibility that encompassed conflicting elements and pushed the theatrical space to the next step, along with both the opposing tendencies of loyalty to tradition and innovation in the format created.

Shozo Motosugi

Chapter 10. Ma Thinking in Architectural Space, Mentality and Action: The Impact of Ma Thinking on Lifestyle Design

Abstract

Through multifaceted studies of culture, healthcare, the theater, concert hall, rural theater stages and post-disaster recovery and town building (following the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster) including approaches to creating rural facilities with Ma that connect people in sparsely populated mountainous areas, this chapter indicates that architectural spaces and Ma thinking in attitude and behavior have a significant impact on the life design of the people who live and engage in activities in those spaces and, in a broader sense, bring about design innovation.

Tomoyoshi Urabe

Chapter 11. Comparative Case Studies and New Implications

Abstract

Through comparative analyses of a number of in-depth case studies in different specialized areas (business and management, art and architecture) discussed in this book, the present chapter offers further new theoretical implications while verifying propositions and hypotheses discussed in Chap. 2, The Five Types of Ma Thinking and Five Architect Capabilities: Theoretical Concepts. In so doing, the discussion points to the importance of “dynamic recursive practice activities between formal and informal organizations” and “the realization of a complex adaptive system through Ma thinking” for realizing innovation and achieving notable success in creative activities.

Mitsuru Kodama

Chapter 12. Conclusions and Issues for Future Research

Abstract

In this final chapter we discuss three issues and insights in regard to academic implications in light of new theoretical and empirical knowledge obtained from theoretical concepts and case studies on Ma presented in the book. The first is cognitive capabilities for Ma thinking, the second is small-world networks and Ma thinking, and the third is building of networked collaborative organizations based on Ma thinking. In conclusion, we also present practical implications for reinforcing cognitive capability for Ma thinking in innovators (practitioners) and consider future research issues.

Mitsuru Kodama

Backmatter