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Annotated Bibliography essay

Annotated Bibliography on Intellectual Capital in the conditions of knowledge-based economy

Content analysis of publications in the field of knowledge and intellectual resources management (see Journal of Intellectual Capital, Knowledge and Process Management, Journal of Knowledge Management, Knowledge and Process Management Practices) in general shows that in the modern theory of knowledge -based economy the object of research is the structure “intellectual capital – scientific and technical progress”. This dichotomy in the epistemological aspect from the standpoint of systems theory is not a system, as it represents only the “input-output” structure. In this case, we only consider a substantive aspect of the intellectual capital (what is done and what is received) while procedural aspect (how it is done) – production of various economic, technical and other results, – forming a system “input-processor-output” is missing. Thereat, new technical solutions (innovation rent of scientific and technical progress) are actually considered as the only form of the results generated by the intellectual capital.

Thus, the topic of our research is intellectual capital within the frames of knowledge management. Intellectual capital is knowledge, skills and production experience of concrete people (human assets) and intangible assets including patents, databases, software, trademarks, etc., which are used productively in order to maximize profits and other economic and technical results.

Intellectual assets exist in various forms, and their effect is limited only by the ability of people to use them.

Management capabilities of human intelligence and converting it into useful products and services become a critical competency in today’s business. Application of knowledge for providing competitiveness becomes more and more important in the organizational strategy. Thus, we observe the increasing interest towards the notions of intellectual capital, creativity, innovation and organizational learning. The answer to the questions about the possibilities of intellectual capital requires detailed study of the structure of knowledge of a company and methods of its use, which also provides an understanding of existing and potential future opportunities for the company. Further these issues are studied in the prism of researches of Steenkamp and Kashyap (), and Hussi (2004), who also base their concepts on the ideas of Rylander and Peppard (), Bontis et al. (1999), and Lam (2001).

Hussi, T 2004, ”˜Reconfiguring knowledge management ”“ combining intellectual capital, intangible assets and knowledge creation’, Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 8, no.2, pp.36-52.

 

The author of the article claims that the terms of intellectual capital, intangible assets and knowledge creation have always been strongly linked concepts in the frames of knowledge management, so in his research, Hussi (2004) tries to show this parallel, as well as critically evaluate the definitions of these concepts as such.

According to the author, in the new post-industrial economy, the activities of mankind have not changed, unlike the technological ability to use the ability to process and understand symbols as a direct productive force distinguishing a human from other biological creatures, and now there are three dimensions in the understanding of intellectual capital: human capital, internal structures and external structures (Hussi 2004; Sveiby 1997). Today, the functions of the economy lie in creating wealth, able to meet the material needs of people, and to create such wealth, people use the resource they possess. In order to indicate the diversity of these resources in a modern economy, the researchers use the concept of value, wealth, benefit, and profit-making (Lam 2000; Lev 2001).

Hussi comes to the conclusion that the economic results are still the major indicator of the effectiveness of intellectual capital and involve the obtainment of various forms of economic, social, political or environmental benefit or new values on the basis of this capital. Under the conditions of economy whose goal is to maximize profits, this cost takes the form of additional revenue generated by intellectual capital. As a result, Hussi works out a reconfigured model of knowledge management. However, in epistemological terms, the result of using such a structure is the examination of only three aspects of intellectual capital by Hussi (2004): a) communication – the organization of the transfer of existing knowledge, including the development of information technologies; b) financial – investment in science; and c) legal – relating to the protection of human ownership of intellectual assets.

The author also doesn’t develop deeply his idea on measuring intellectual capital and intangible assets, but only marks the possible methods that could be used for these aims, in particular relying on Sveiby (1997), Sullivan (2000), and Lev (2001). An integrated approach to the issues of intellectual capital is also discussed in the research of Lam (2000).

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