Knowledge, Organization, and Management

Reviews / Votes

Max Boisot was a deep thinker whose interest in knowledge enabled him to make important contributions to many areas: Chinese economic development, strategic management, innovation, and the organization of advanced science, to name but a few. In this volume, Child and Ihrig bring together Boisot's pathbreaking articles, and combine them with thoughtful appreciations by those who knew him best. The result is a worthy tribute to Boisot's legacy, and a wonderful way to introduce his thinking to a new generation of scholars. * Henry Chesbrough, Faculty Director, Garwood Center for Corporate Innovation, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and Esade Business School, Ramon Llul University * Max Boisots lucid explanations of the workings of the knowledge economy profoundly changed my perspective on strategy. He was years ahead of most of us in explaining why periods of maximum value are so fragile and why we need an entirely new logic for business one that emphasizes sharing and speed if our organizations are to be successful. In the knowledge economy, hoping to hide behind entry barriers is futile. As this excellent book demonstrates, Max showed us all an alternative. * Rita Gunther McGrath, Associate Professor, Columbia Business School * Max Boisot's key message has lost none of its topicality and importance: the form and communication of knowledge lie at the heart of human social organization. This book provides an excellent discussion of the challenges and opportunities involvedbe it cultural and institutional differences of systems or the complexity of today's (organizational) world. As Boisot's work applies to people, organizations, and society as a whole, his work inspires a deep reflection and encourages further inquiry into many significant issues. * Prof. Gilbert Probst, Managing Director, World Economic Forum * Boisot's deep insights are brilliantly unpacked and situated, both socially and epistemologically, in this superb collection. Given that nearly every economy is now being disrupted, his I-Space adds timely insights to how to move beyond simplistic analyses to ones that honor the embedded nature of the tacit. * John Seely Brown, Former Chief Scientist of Xerox Corp and Director of Xerox PARC, co-author of The Social Life of Information (2000), The Power of Pull (2010), and A New Culture of Learning (2011) * For those of us who had the pleasure of knowing Max, he was one of the most creative and original of people. He had an extraordinary ability to understand how things were actually working and to create an image of how they could be changed. He not only had a powerful imagination but also was deeply grounded in pragmatism. This book is a splendid tribute to a remarkable man. A real visionary. * Nicholas Stern, IG Patel Professor of Economics & Government at the LSE, President of the British Academy, and ex-Chief Economist of the World Bank *