Phronesis and Quiddity in Management A School of Knowledge Approach

Phronesis and Quiddity in Management addresses the issue of the excellence in judgment-making, its concept and characterisation. Through a combination of Aristotle's phronesis and Izutsu's consciousness (Bewusstsein), the authors explore the concept of 'phronesis' (or its translation as 'wisdom' or 'practical wisdom') to emphasise its conceptual dependence on Aristotle. At the same time, however, this book also stresses another conceptual derivation from Toshihiko Izutsu's main work, Consciousness and Quiddity, in that it is inspired by the metaphysical thesis of the Japanese philosopher. This book investigates first into what constitutes excellent managerial skills centred on leadership revolving around judgement-making (rather than decision-making) and second into whether they can be taught.

Ikujiro Nonaka teaches Knowledge Management in the Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy at Hitotsubashi University, Japan. Known as the guru of Knowledge-Creation and Innovation Management of the firm, he is among the world's leading scholars in the field of Knowledge Management studies aimed at fostering the next generation of business leaders and was listed as one of the top 20 "Most Influential Business Thinkers" by The Wall Street Journal in 2008.

Kimio Kase is a Professor at IESE Business School, University of Navarra, Spain. Previously he worked for Price Waterhouse European Firm and Inter-American Development Bank. He has also taught at the International University of Japan. He holds a DBA from Manchester University and an MBA from IESE Business School. His current research interests include strategy, corporate-level strategy and Asian management. Kimio has published widely, and he is currently on the editorial board of the following: The Nonaka Series on Knowledge Management and Innovation; Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal; and Academia: Revista Latinoamericana de Administración.

César González-Cantón is Professor of Management at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (CUNEF), Spain. In the past he has worked with the University of Navarra, Pompeu Fabra University and IESE Business School. His main research interests are in corporate responsibility and human rights, global business ethics, gender issues and industrial relations.

1. Introduction
2. The Rationalist Approach To Judgement-Making. Description And Critique
3. The Metaphysics Of Judgement-Making: Contingency
4. Consciousness And Quiddity
5. Phronesis And Quiddity
6. Conclusions And Discussions
Annex 1: Sazo Idemitsu (1885-1981)
Annex 2: Kazuo Inamori
Annex 3: La Fageda: Knowledge Generation In Social Business