Knowledge resides in
- individual members of the company such as knowhow and skills (tacit knowledge);
- intellectual property right such as patents and copyrights (explicit knowledge); and
- business and work processes – procedural knowledge
A company’s knowledge assets are comprised of competencies and all of the resources other than tangible assets. The knowledge assets are however not very visible as compare to the tangible assets that the company owns because the full complement of knowledge asset are not commonly valued in balance sheets.
In order to compete effectively, a company must have 3 types of competencies:
- Core competencies to carry out the essential business and work processes to compete
- Routine competencies that enable the company to function day-to-day
- Distinctive competencies to allow itself to differentiate its offerings such as products/services.
Entire resource that is available to a company is comprised of:
- Tangible assets (financial and physical);
- Intangible assets (IPR, other IPs, licenses, franchises, and contracts); and
- Latent capabilities that are embedded in human capital (employees), structural capital (reputation, workforce caliber) and relationship capital (supplier network, customers)
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Next: How does knowledge impact the company?