Nonaka was born in Tokyo in 1935 and as a child he lived through World War II. His nationalist spirit led him to believe that Japan should adapt its technological and organizational skills. In 1958 Nonaka received his B.S. in political science of Waseda University.
After graduation Nonaka accepted a job in Fuji Electric, where he initiated a management program. This curriculum was in the 1960s further developed together with the business school of Keio University and offered to companies all over Japan.[1] In 1967 Nonaka moved to US where in 1968 he obtained an MBA and in 1972 a PhD in Business Administration both at University of California, Berkeley.
In 2008, the Wall Street Journal listed him as one of the most influential persons on business thinking,[4] and The Economist included him in its "Guide to Management Ideas and Gurus".[5]
Essence of Failure: Organizational Study of the Japanese Armed Forces during the World War II (with R. Tobe, Y. Teramoto, S. Kamata, T. Suginoo and T. Murai), Tokyo: Diamond-sha, 1984 (in Japanese).
Enabling Knowledge Creation (with G. von Krogh and K. Ichijo), New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Hitotsubashi on Knowledge Management (with co-authors), John Wiley (Asia), 2003.
The Essence of Innovation (with A. Katsumi), Tokyo: Nikkei BP, 2004 (in Japanese).
The Essence of Strategy (with co-authors), Tokyo: Nikkei BP, 2005 (in Japanese).
Managing Flow (with T. Hirata and R. Toyama), Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
The Core of Organization is People (with H. Sakai, H. Yoshida, T. Sakikawa, T. Hirata, K. Isomura and Yasunobu NARITA), Kyoto: Nakanishiya, 2009 (in Japanese).
The Philosophy-Creating Company (with K. Genma, T. Hirata, K. Isomura and Yasunobu NARITA), Kyoto: Nakanishiya, 2012 (in Japanese).