There has been little research on intellectual capital (IC) reporting practices of UK firms or on the incentives/disincentives that motivate them to disclose information about their value drivers. Therefore, this study explores annual report disclosures and seeks to explain why managers choose to disclose. The sample consists of 100 London Stock Exchange firms from nine knowledge-based sectors. Whilst adopting a primarily positive accounting theory explanation of disclosure, a new combination of theories (capital market transactions theory, proprietary costs theory and corporate governance theory) is used to generate explanatory variables. The results show that there is a skewing toward relational capital. However, there were large differences in the amount of information disclosed, both across sectors and, in many cases, inside sectors, suggesting that different sectors, or even different companies, may have quite different value drivers. Initial analysis of possible motives was conducted using an OLS regression including all possible explanatory independent variables. However, neither corporate governance nor proprietary costs are well-theorised, and several different variables were used to proxy each of these. Therefore, reduced regression models were also employed. Principal component analysis was used to generate one composite measure of corporate governance and proprietary costs. The results showed that reporting IC is negatively associated with the extent of external financing, while firms with high market-to-book values also disclose less IC information. However, contrary to expectations, the acquisition variable was insignificant although as expected, the relation between human capital disclosure and foreign operations was found to be positive and significant. For proprietary costs variables, there was a significantly positive relation between entry barriers and IC disclosure, and a negative relationship between IC and the intensity of industry competition. Finally, there was a significant, positive relationship between corporate governance and the disclosure of all types of IC.

The competitive environment in the banking industry globally and in South Africa is putting immense pressure on companies to keep track of changes in technology, customer demands, and market trends. Responses to the above will allow a company in South Africa to improve customer service and thus remain competitive and relevant. This dissertation is to determine the status and interpretation of intellectual capital (intangible assets) within a South African banking and service company. This study explores the way in which intellectual capital characteristics contribute towards a competitive advantage. A case study method was applied and interviews were conducted to capture responses. The questions were structured, but the discussions allowed for additional questions to be asked during the interviews.

In this thesis I propose that the literature on ambidexterity does not fully explore the detailed practices by which organisations and managers may achieve both exploitation and exploration. A systematic review identifies that studies have focused principally at the organisation-level, and there is a lack of both empirical and theoretical work at the micro-level of analysis highlighting how ambidexterity may be achieved in practical, complex, working structures. The research addresses these micro-mechanisms in the context of the management of projects, a suitable area in that it can be considered as using defined processes together with the flexibility to overcome particular issues that arise. The contribution of the thesis is that it presents an insight into the management of ambidexterity in such an environment, and identifies how multiple knowledge resources are utilised, together with the underlying managerial practices. The level of analysis is the project (specifically, IT-services projects in a major multinational organisation), using the manager as the unit of analysis. The research question is ‘How is ambidexterity achieved at the level of the project?’ This is an opportunity to explore a practical as well as a theoretical gap, in an increasingly important area of business operations. The first stage of the research examines the managerial role in terms of intellectual capital, using a variety of projects. This shows that the sub-components of IC (human, social and organisational/project capital) can each be understood as having co-existing, orthogonal, exploitative and exploratory elements, an important extension of existing theory. The forms of intellectual capital are interwoven not only with each other, but also with the processes of exploitation and exploration, and to conceive of them as separate is an insufficient theorisation. The findings from the qualitative approach are used to investigate the duality of these concepts and bring greater clarity to our understanding of their operationalisation. .This is followed by eight case studies, each using between three and five managerial respondents, together with project data, used to develop a more fine-grained understanding of ambidexterity in a wide range of industrial settings. This shows different managerial configurations (including ‘distributed’ and ‘point’ ambidexterity – an addition to current theory), together with five key managerial practices to enable project-level ambidexterity, identified in the context of project complexity, critical events and constraints.

O conhecimento é responsável, em grande parte, pelo desenvolvimento das pessoas que, reunidas em forma de sociedade, procuram o seu constante aprimoramento e evolução. Considera-se que a sociedade vive atualmente na denominada Era do Conhecimento e que uma das maiores aplicações do conhecimento é a sua utilização na forma de Capital Intelectual, um conjunto de Ativos Intangíveis à disposição das empresas e entidades. Os bancos constituem uma parte fundamental da economia e são considerados entre os principais agentes prestadores de serviços da sociedade moderna e, dessa forma, infere-se que fazem uso intensivo do Capital Intelectual. O presente estudo de natureza exploratória objetivou verificar, por meio de uma pesquisa qualitativa, como os bancos evidenciam o Capital Intelectual em suas demonstrações contábeis, relatórios de administração e demais relatórios financeiros. Para isso, escolheram-se os bancos que cotizam na Bolsa de Valores de São Paulo e também os que cotizam na Bolsa Espanhola, a Bolsa de Madri. Conclui-se, por meio dos resultados obtidos, que os bancos atuantes no Brasil e na Espanha divulgam o Capital Intelectual principalmente nos relatórios de administração. Outra conclusão encontrada determinada pelo estudo é que a divisão Capital Estrutural foi a classificação que mais obteve ocorrências e, além disso, não há uma legislação ou orientação dos órgãos normatizadores de como devem ser evidenciados os itens pertencentes ao Capital Intelectual nas demonstrações. Todavia, não se pode afirmar, mediante a análise qualitativa, que os bancos na Espanha divulguem mais informações que os bancos no Brasil como poderia ser a expectativa de alguns. Por último, constata-se que houve um significativo aumento de informações divulgadas ao longo do tempo. / Knowledge is mostly responsible for development people, gathered together in Society, seek their constant improvement and welfare. It became usual to label the present times as the \"Era of Knowledge\" and one of the largest applications of knowledge is the Intellectual Capital, a set of intangible assets available to business entities. Banking organizations constitute a key part of the economic environment and are considered one of the main service suppliers of modern society, with intensive use of Intellectual Capital. This research aims to verify through a qualitative search how banks disclose Intellectual Capital in their financial statements, managerial and other reports. The entities object of this research were selected banking companies listed at São Paulo Stock Exchange and at the Madrid Stock Exchange. The results of this research permit to conclud that for the banks selected in this sample the disclosure of issues relating to intellectual capital were mainly found in Board of Directors\' reports rather in any part of the financial statements or notes. The research also indicated that through this sort of qualitative analysis does not permit to conclude that Intellectual Capital disclosures in Spain woud contain more information than in Brazil, as it was thought at the beginning of this work. Furthermore, the Structural Capital\'s division was the classification mostly found. Lastly, although it has been noticed a significant increase of information disseminated over the years, there still is no guidance or requirements clear enough, developed by pertinent agencies or standard-setters, about the way Intellectual Capital items should be disclosed in the reports.

No description available.

This research has investigated factors that affect the successful commercialization of intellectual capital. The concept of social constructs of meaning for the interview participants provides the fundamental perspective of this research. The research was undertaken on the basis of a constructivist ontology, the epistemology was interpretivist, and a qualitative methodology was used. A constructivist ontology was selected due to the research aim to understand the perceptions of the interview participants. The interpretivist approach provided the framework to interpret meaning of the perceptions in the appropriate business context. The data collection methods included unstructured interviews of people holding key decision making positions within their organizations. The conceptual nature of intellectual capital and commercialization enabled the research to be viewed from a phenomenological perspective and aspects of grounded theory were applied in seeking meaning from interviewee perceptions to surface a theoretical model. The data analysis included coding of the interview transcripts utilizing NVivo qualitative research software and sorting the data into nodes. The nodes represented categories of information which became the foundations of the constructs. These nodes were examined for relationship and meaning until a theoretical model emerged from the data. The findings culminated in six (6) main constructs which were subsequently aggregated to form a composite model of factors which influence the commercialization process. / In addition a further discovery was made in terms of an `Intellectual Capital Approach' model which enables a classification and hierarchical relationship of intellectual capital to be mapped as a starting point for problem solving and strategy formulation. The results of this research have immediate application to business in terms of informing management about identification of intellectual capital and to consider alternative scenarios for wealth creation by way of commercialization.

To date, the existing literature is very limited in its provision of links between knowledge management or intellectual capital with innovation. Existing studies have derived their innovation processes from large companies’ perspectives and have not considered the needs of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Different types of innovation will require different resources and, therefore, will need to be managed differently. Little research has been aimed at identifying innovation processes from a knowledge-based perspective. Although a fascinating array of innovation research has been carried out in the context of R and D issues and economic factors, the knowledge/innovation gaps and the gaps of innovation perspectives between larger/smaller firms should be filled in to map a more comprehensive picture of the proposition. This research is aimed at bridging these gaps through the leveraging sources of innovation, both the internal and external supporting processes of innovation and the construction of the innovation supply chain. The study suggests that, due to the integrated innovation models and propositions, future researchers will be able to undertake an empirical study for more high-tech SMEs in a selected high-tech industry to obtain a generalised result for specific high-tech industries. Also, the integrated innovation models and propositions can be used to undertake case studies or empirical studies for the other SMEs. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2006. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Study based on data derived from a sampling of 189 large U.S. law firms. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-101). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

This study examines the survival of individual subsidiary in an inter-subsidiary perspective within the ever-increasing competitive environment in the Greater China region between Mainland Chinese subsidiaries and Taiwanese subsidiaries. 80 Taiwanese Multinational Enterprises¡¦ (MNEs¡¦) participated in this study and the researcher specifically looked at the two sub-frameworks, data collected were empirically tested. In the first sub-framework, it examines the influences of inter-subsidiary competition for strategic positions on subsidiary survival with respect to its strategic importance, resource asymmetry, and some characteristics of value activities. In the second sub-framework, it examines the influences of competition on knowledge flow positions with respect to knowledge flows and intellectual capital. The results showed that these determinants have different effects on subsidiary survival. Specifically, in the first sub-framework, the strategic importance and advantages of intangible resources enhances a focal subsidiary¡¦s survival, whereas local responsiveness, advantages on physical resources, similarity and mobility of value activities decreases its survival. On the other hand, in the second sub-framework, determinants of knowledge flows specifically on knowledge inflows, knowledge transfer, and absorption capacity of a specific peer subsidiary decreases its survival rate. Further, determinants on intellectual capital such as application capabilities on organizational capital and human capital are seen as positive factors. Finally, this study discusses the implications of inter-subsidiary competition for these factors in determining a focal subsidiary¡¦s survival.

Purpose – The purpose of this thesis is to identify the determinants of voluntary disclosure of intellectual capital in a Swedish context in 2013. Research design – The thesis is a quantitative, cross sectional study. The data is collected from firms’ annual reports using a disclosure index developed by Bukh et al. (2005). The data was analysed using ANOVA, Mann Whitney U-test and Pearson’s’ r. Findings – The drivers of voluntary disclosure in a Swedish context are industry type, age and size. There was no significant relationship found between ownership concentration, leverage and profitability and the amount of voluntary disclosure. Contribution – There has been a limited amount of research performed on Swedish companies and voluntary disclosure. This study contribute trough mapping the disclosure situation in Sweden. The study also offers an insight to the situation the year before the new directive (2014/95/EU). Value – This paper gives a recent depiction of the disclosure situation in Sweden. The thesis has a more extended theoretical framework than previous studies and interpret the result with four different theories.