Hirotaka Takeuchi is a Professor in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School, where he currently teaches three second-year elective courses: Knowledge-based Strategy, Japan IXP, and Microeconomics of Competitiveness (which he co-teaches with University Professor Michael Porter). He received a BA from International Christian University in Tokyo, Japan and an MBA and PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. Professor Takeuchi’s first faculty position at Harvard was in the Marketing Unit from 1976 to 1983 as an Assistant Professor and his second as a Visiting Professor teaching the Advanced Management Program in 1995-1996. Starting in 1983, he taught at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo and served as the Founding Dean of its business school, Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, from 1998 to 2010. Prior to his academic career, he worked at McCann-Erickson in Tokyo and San Francisco and at McKinsey & Company in Tokyo.

Professor Takeuchi’s research has focused on the knowledge creation process within organizations, the competitiveness of Japanese firms in global industries, and the link between strategy and innovation. He is the author or editor of 17 books, including The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation co-authored with Ikujiro Nonaka (which won the 1995 Best New Book of the Year Award in the business and management category by the Association of American Publishers), Can Japan Compete? co-authored with Michael Porter, and Extreme Toyota: Radical Contradictions That Drive Success at the World’s Best Manufacturer co-authored with Hitotsubashi professors Emi Osono and Norihiko Shimizu (which won the Best 30 Business Books by Soundview Executive Book Summaries in 2008). His most recent Harvard Business Review article is The Wise Leader (May 2011) with Ikujiro Nonaka.

Professor Takeuchi serves as a member of the board of directors of Integral Corporation, and has served on the board of ORIX Corporation and Trend Micro Inc., all based in Japan. He is also a director of several non-profit organizations, including Japan Society of Boston, Nonaka Institute of Knowledge, and Ark Hills Club. He is and has been a member of the advisory board of Fast Retailing, All Nippon Airways, NTT DoCoMo, Mitsui & Co., Yoshimoto Kogyo, World Economic Forum, Russell Reynolds, Japan Association of Corporate Directors, Japan Sports Association, among others. He has been a member of a number of committees and councils formed by government agencies in Japan, including the Cabinet Office; Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry; Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology; and Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and also a member of the editorial board of Japan Marketing Journal, Journal of Knowledge Management, and Hitotsubashi Business Review.