The SECI model is just one part of Nonaka’s theory of knowledge creation, which also comprises Ba and dialectic. Ba is a shared “place” or context—loosely bounded and evolving—that “enables a dialectic process among the actors.”
“A firm can be viewed as an organic configuration of various Ba, where people interact with each other and the environment based on the knowledge they have and the meaning they create.” This notion is similar to the Geogeghan and Pangaro notion that a firm is a collection of conversations for understanding, agreeing, acting, and learning [11]. Nonoka argues that “knowledge is created through the synthesis of the contradictions between the organization’s internal resources and the environment.” His notion of the dialectic spiral of synthesis of contradictions is similar to Rittel’s notion of designing as a process of reframing and argumentation.
While outside the scope of this article, Nonaka’s notion of Ba and his insistence on Ba and dialectic as parts of the knowledge-creation process suggest further opportunities for applying his work to designing.