The Keisho of development technology: The case of the Japanese aircraft industry

In many respects, development of highly innovative products such as fighter aircraft comes down to a quest for technological superiority. If such products lack best-in-class technologies, they face almost certain defeat at the hands of the competition (or, in the case of fighter aircraft, the enemy). In addition to the latest and greatest technologies, however, this type of development effort must draw on the past. Takashi Nakayama explores the role that keisho—or inheritance—of development technology plays in the Japanese aircraft industry. He illustrates the concept of keisho through examples ranging from the projects that culminated in development of the famed Zero fighter aircraft during the 1930s to those that produced the FSX (recently renamed the F-2) support fighter during the 1990s. Drawing on these historical perspectives, he addresses three key questions regarding keisho. First, why do Japanese manufacturers insist on keisho of development technology, even in the development of the latest aircraft? Second, what does the term development technology mean? And finally, how is keisho of development technology to be carried out? He then presents two models to show how keisho of development technology is carried out under different circumstances. The term development technology refers to the tacit knowledge that each member of the organization brings to a development effort. In other words, development technology comprises fieldwork knowledge, which consists of intuition, experience, and analogy. In essence, development technology represents the insight necessary for understanding the overall circumstances of a project and actively reframing or integrating various technologies to fit the needs of that project. During a development effort, each member of the organization internalizes this tacit knowledge (that is, development technology). By retaining and assigning these people to subsequent developments, an organization carries out the keisho of development technology. In this straight inheritance (optimal) model of keisho, engineers move from a completed project to another large-scale, next-generation project, continually using, refining, and enhancing the tacit knowledge shared by all members of the organization. The result is successive generations of new, excellent products. In intermediary inheritance (the minimal requisite keisho model), the core of development technology is inherited through various medium-scale intermediate projects, rather than directly from one large-scale project to the next.