Managing serendipity through ma thinking
lessons of the invention and commercialization of blue led (awarded the nobel prize in physics)
pp. 81-102
in: Mitsuru Kodama (ed), Ma theory and the creative management of innovation, Berlin, Springer, 2017Abstract
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.