The managerial foundations of knowledge assets dynamics

Abstract

The ability of an organisation to harness knowledge assets dynamics lies at the core of organisational value creation capacity. A key challenge both for researchers and for practitioners is to understand how to measure and manage knowledge assets dynamics. In this paper the managerial foundations of knowledge assets dynamics are introduced. For measuring and managing knowledge assets dynamics within organisations three processes are discussed as follows: knowledge assets identification, knowledge assets mapping and knowledge assets flow. The ability of an organisation to gain sustainable competitive advantages is related to the capacity of mastering these processes. Each process is analysed introducing the possible frameworks that can inspire both scholars investigating the microfoundations of organisational knowledge dynamics, and practitioners looking for approaches to leverage knowledge assets to improve business performance.

Keywords:

• knowledge assets
• knowledge dynamics
• intellectual capital
• knowledge identification
• knowledge mapping
• knowledge flow

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank John Edwards for his continuous support and encouragement in developing this special issue. I am also grateful to J.C. Spender, Daniela Carlucci, Antonio Lerro, Robert Huggins for their comments and suggestions. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the Italian Minister of University and Scientific Research for financing this research, which is part of the National Scientific Research Programs (PRIN 2007).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Giovanni Schiuma

About the author

Giovanni Schiuma, Ph.D., is Scientific Director of the Centre for Value Management at the Università della Basilicata in Italy; Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Business Performance, Cranfield School of Management and Adjunct Professor at Tampere University of Technology (Finland). Giovanni's research, teaching and consulting focus on linking knowledge assets and organisation behaviour to performance management and organisational value creation dynamics. Giovanni is Co-Editor of the international journal Measuring Business Excellence (Emerald publisher). For further information visit www.gschiuma.com.