Toyota Kata Approach—A Way to Mitigate Knowledge Risks in Start-Ups

Abstract

Start-ups are created based on risk and have to deal with knowledge risk every day. The founders see one opportunity and seek ways to transform it into reality. They are entrepreneurs who have a way to solve a real problem. The literature presents some works that deal with knowledge risks. However, none of them exposed an organized way of dealing with those risks, one by one. Specifically, this chapter seeks to answer the following research question: Can Toyota Kata be a scientific way to deal with those risks? This work aims to answer this question, for that, an action research into a Brazilian start-up was conducted. Through the action research, it was verified that the Toyota Kata approach use enabled the mitigation of knowledge at risk that may occur into start-ups. It is possible to perceive the benefits of this approach, by the learning in executing the planned and comparing of that was realized. The coach interactions after the planned execution of each cycle revel as effective to mitigate the knowledge risks. The experience exchange between coach and learner proved to be a differential in learning and mitigation process. It is perceived that the approach deals with many obstacles, by systematizing and structuring a way of dealing with them one at a time, indicating to be effective in dealing with knowledge at risk.