Nypro’s Knowledge Management

Knowledge, in the contemporary business world is seen as a key resource, and it is what leads to innovation and growth. Moreover, it can be used as a means to gaining competitive advantage. In simple terms, knowledge management refers to the creating, organizing, storing and sharing of knowledge. (Nonaka, 2005) Nypro’s customer relations were managed by teams, only the manager of which was from a specific industry. The team was headed by a program manager, who was part of the engineering organization.

The rest of them team was from diverse functional areas. In this way, the manager would ensure that the team was headed in one, uniform direction, and the rest of the team members would bring in different expertise and points of opinion along the way, adding to the innovation and diversification of the team. In other words, this was a good system of knowledge management, as knowledge from barious disciplines was flowing through the team, adding to each member’s knowledge base.

Moreover, if any team’s innovation became stagnant, the members would be changed so as to get more diverse views into the groups. Another aspect of knowledge management can be seen when Nypro teamed up with its customer, the Johnson & Johnson Vistakon team, for more transfer of knowledge and information that was required for producing the good that Johnson & Johnson needed. Such cooperation and transfer of information is what guaranteed success for both Nypro and Johnson& Johnson.

Lankton’s NovaPlast Decision I would suggest that Nypro should go with the first option. The new NovaPlast machines should start operating at one dedicated plant, while the other plants should continue with the mainstream business. Then, if the NovaPlast machines lead to more profitable business, they should be incorporated in more and more of their operations. Conclusion We saw, in this paper, how Nypro differentiated itself by using various strategies for growth.

We see that instead of using the de facto strategy, it used the strategic planning process. Also, we see that it used effective manufacturing and sales strategies, which endured long term success for the company.

REFERENCES Goodstein, L. (1993). Applied Strategic Planning: How to Develop a Plan That Really Works. McGraw-Hill Professional Nonaka, I. (2005). Knowledge Management: Critical Perspectives on Business and Management. Taylor & Francis