Two Japanese knowledge management experts, Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi,
also used the distinction between tacit and explicit knowledge to defi ne four possible modes
of knowledge transfer and the processes they entail (see Table 10.1 ).3
Nonaka and Takeuchi’s framework can be helpful for understanding not only the domains
in which transfers of knowledge most commonly occur, but also what methods are most appropriate for doing research in each domain. For example, as Cook and Yanow’s study of fl ute
makers demonstrated, tacit knowledge transferred through direct contact between cultural