Abstract
As the proverb “two heads are better than one” says, people often expect that collaborative activities bring about emergence of knowledge or ideas. In order to confirm whether there is actually the possibility of emergence through collaboration, the authors investigated actual collaborative activities in research & development processes based on the hierarchical interview method. First, a case study of developing a new impactful detergent was made in detail. As a result, three kinds of collaboration (interdepartmental collaboration, interdisciplinary one between two teams, and interdisciplinary one between two individual members) were observed. Especially, an interdepartmental collaboration was clarified to be significant in the case. Second, some cases of collaboration which were brought about in a relatively short time span were analyzed and, as a result, collaborative interactions in organizational knowledge creation were classified into three types. This study indicates that new ideas or knowledge can be emerged through collaboration in actual research & development processes.
