The intellectual capital web. A systematic linking of intellectual capital and knowledge management
| Published date | 01 March 2003 |
| Date | 01 March 2003 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14691930310455379 |
| Pages | 34-48 |
| Author | Albert Z. Zhou,Dieter Fink |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance,HR & organizational behaviour,Information & knowledge management |
The intellectual capital web
A systematic linking of intellectual
capital and knowledge management
Albert Z. Zhou
Knowledge Management Research Group, School of Information
Systems, Technology and Management, The University of New South
Wales, Sydney, Australia, and
Dieter Fink
School of Management Information Systems, Edith Cowan University,
Churchlands, Australia
Keywords Knowledge management, Intellectual capital
Abstract The twenty-first century knowledge driven economy has seen increasing importance
being placed on maximising the organisation’s intellectual capital (IC). At the same time knowledge
management (KM) systems are being developed. The paper establishes similarities between the two
and proceeds to develop a systematic approach to linking them through the intellectual capital web
(ICW). There are six components with the ICW: strategic objectives, management systems,
measurement systems, knowledge workers, catalysts and reward and incentive systems. The
integration of IC and KM requires alignment of KM processes with IC assets to meet the
organisation’s strategic needs. A theoretical conjecture is developed in which the components of
elements of ICW are interweaved to achieve strategic objectives. The systematic approach outlined
in the paper should offer organisations valuable guidelines to maximising their IC assets and
managing their knowledge management processes.
Introduction
The existence of intellectual capital (IC) is being recognised as the foundation of
organisational success in the twenty-first century (Wiig, 1997a). This influential
phenomenon has emerged from the transition from a traditional industrial
economy to a knowledge economy (Guthrie et al., 1999). The arrival of a
knowledge economy has seen a decline in relative importance of tangible assets,
and demanded a paradigm shift to relying on knowledge and IC (Guthrie, 2001).
One classical example is Microsoft. The market value of Microsoft was 11.2
times its tangible assets value in 1996, and 13.3 times in the second quarter of
fiscal year 2000 (Dzinkowski, 2000). This growing difference between value of
tangible assets and market value demonstrates the value of the IC embodied in
Microsoft’s staff (Longford, 1999). Increasingly, IC (i.e. knowledge, customer
relationship and expertise) is becoming the critical resource for a firm’s
viability and success as IC has a significant and substantive impact on
business performance (Bontis, 1998; Bontis et al., 2000). That is why Roos et al.
(1997) urge: “In the modern business world, the business imperative is to
manage intellectual capital or die!”.
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
http://www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister http://www.emeraldinsight.com/1469-1930.htm
JIC
4,1
34
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 4 No. 1, 2003
pp. 34-48
qMCB UP Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/14691930310455379
To continue reading
Request your trial