M.A. / The competitive landscape in the retail sector in South Africa is changing, and new models of competitiveness are needed to deal with the challenges ahead. The responses that usually occur in relation to the above statement reveal a new competitive reality, demanding that the organisation’s capabilities will enable the retail company in South Africa to better serve their customers and to differentiate them from competitors. This dissertation is about determining the status of the measurement and interpretation of intangible assets within a retail company in South Africa, and more specifically the JD Group as a furniture retailer. There are focused on the importance of the different aspects of intellectual capital i.e. human capital, structural capital and customer capital and the value that could be derived to aid the company in the retail industry. It is also intended to establish whether value can be added to investors, customers, line management, employees and the community, if the appropriate intellectual capital management tool is identified and implemented. It is viewed, both globally and in South Africa, as a core contributory factor in achieving business strategy. It was established that knowledge processes and tools could be implemented and utilized to discover intellectual capital management as a valuable resource for the retail company. The spectrum of intellectual capital management tools is investigated and four methods of measuring intellectual capital are identified in the current literature: The Market capitalization method, the return on assets method, the direct intellectual capital method and the scorecard method. The scorecard models are identified as the most appropriate method to use in a retail company in South Africa based on the following characteristics: Monitoring of performance, reporting to stakeholders and uncovering of hidden value. The retail industry in South Africa is very volatile and organizations should be geared to adapt to changes at a rapid pace. In order to achieve world-class status, it is important to understand that management and employees, together, need to champion the competitive organisation of the future. The future organisation will no longer be in business just for the sake of business, but with a clear intent to protect its most valuable asset, the future. 21st Century businesses will be in the business of the creation of future, sustainable businesses. This dissertation explores the views as to the extent to which intangible assets contribute value, how this contribution can be measured through the use of intellectual capital management tools and what the status is of such measurement in the current retail company trading in South Africa. Once the need for intellectual capital management in the retail company in South Africa is established, focus is also given to the resultant changes required in respect of specific practices and the introduction of an array of strategy focused interventions, all within the intangible assets arena. The selection of these interventions is very JD Group specific and focuses on those areas that will contribute to the strategic alignment of leadership, culture and technology within the Group’s strategy, which is quite simply but also articulately captured in the Group’s vision statement, i.e. “To become global leaders in our fields of expertise.”

It has become generally accepted to refer to today‟s global economy as a knowledge-based economy, since knowledge has increasingly become the resource, instead of a resource for wealth creation. The ability of businesses to harness the potential of intangible assets such as knowledge has become far more decisive than their ability to manage physical assets. In the implementation of knowledge management activities, knowledge sharing is recognised as an integral task and key enabler of knowledge management. Although knowledge sharing is regarded as one of the most crucial factors in the effective management of knowledge, in knowledge-intensive businesses in particular, it has also been established that most employees are reluctant to share knowledge. Research further confirms that the factors that promote or discourage knowledge-sharing behaviour in businesses are poorly understood and that knowledge management systems fail as a result of the misunderstanding of individual characteristics that could influence knowledge sharing. Moreover, the focus of knowledge-sharing literature, in terms of the unit of analysis, is rarely at an individual/micro level, although the role of individuals in the knowledge-sharing process is critical as tacit knowledge resides within the individual and knowledge sharing starts with individuals. Given the importance of understanding knowledge sharing of individuals in knowledge-intensive businesses – but noting the lack of existing systematic, integrated research that focuses on individual-related factors influencing knowledge sharing – the purpose of this study was to fill the gap in the current literature. As such, the primary objective of this research was to identify and empirically investigate the individual-related factors influencing the Knowledge-sharing intention of individual employees in knowledge-intensive businesses. The literature review revealed twelve constructs, namely Individuals’ awareness, Intrinsic motivation, Extrinsic motivation, Transactional psychological contract breach, Relational psychological contract breach, Relationship conflict, Task conflict, Extraversion, Neuroticism, Openness to experience, Agreeableness and Conscientiousness that could influence the dependent variable Knowledge-sharing intention in knowledge-intensive businesses. Various moderating relationships between the dependent and independent variables were also proposed, while seven demographic variables (Age, Gender, Language, Highest qualification, Ethnic background, Organisational tenure and Job tenure of the respondent) were identified as potential control variables. Each construct in the hypothesised model of individual-related factors influencing Knowledge-sharing intention was defined and operationalised using items sourced from validated measuring instruments in previous studies. Several self-generated items based on secondary sources were also formulated. A structured questionnaire was made available to respondents identified by means of the convenience sampling technique, and the data collected from 597 usable questionnaires was subjected to various statistical analyses. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted which confirmed the unique factors present in the data, and Cronbach-alpha coefficients were calculated to confirm the reliability of the measuring instrument. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was the main statistical procedure used to test the significance of the relationships hypothesised between the various independent and dependent variables. A subset of SEM, namely general linear modelling (GLM) was used to determine the influence of selected demographic variables on Knowledge-sharing intention and to assess various moderating relationships as proposed in the hypothesised model. The main findings of this study were that personality traits are strong predictors of individual employees‟ willingness to share knowledge, and that the maturity of individuals, in terms of realising the significance and value of sharing their knowledge with others, and in recognising the intrinsic benefits of sharing, influence Knowledge-sharing intention. The main limitations of the study were the use of a convenience sampling technique to collect the data, as well as the dependence of self-report by respondents, which could lead to response bias. This study has added to the body of knowledge management research, in particular knowledge-sharing research, by investigating selected individual-related factors influencing the Knowledge-sharing intention of individuals in a particular subset of businesses, namely knowledge-intensive businesses, and focusing on a particular type of knowledge, namely tacit knowledge. From a business‟s perspective, this study offers recommendations and suggestions for managing these individual-related factors in such a way as to increase knowledge sharing among employees, and as a result, the effectiveness and competitive advantage of knowledge-intensive businesses.

This research commenced by looking at what the knowledge economy is and what the driving forces are. In order to decide on how knowledge in this new economy can be managed, it was first necessary to define the concept of knowledge. The difference between tacit and explicit knowledge and the interaction between the two were discussed and at the end ways of managing this knowledge were investigated. In a discussion of the term knowledge management it was concluded that it can be regarded as the handling of tacit and explicit objects of knowledge through information systems, so that it enhances innovation and learning in the enterprise. However, when this knowledge is used for creating economic value, it becomes an item of capital and it is therefore necessary to determine what Intellectual Capital is. The history of Intellectual Capital was discussed and in defining Intellectual Capital seven different models for Intellectual Capital were studied. It was found that Intellectual Capital is subdivided into three major components, viz. Human Capital, Structural Capital and Customer Capital. Each of these components was then thoroughly described and discussed. The aim of the research was to study the explicit management and measurement models of Intellectual Capital that would improve understanding of the mechanisms by which value is created and extracted. The different approaches that can be followed in managing Intellectual Capital were investigated. It was concluded that the three major components cannot be seen as independent from each other and must therefore be managed as a whole. The management of the interaction between the three components can be seen as the management of the intellectual assets of an organisation and this consists of two phases, viz. value creation and value extraction. In order to determine how successful an organisation is in managing its Intellectual Capital this management needs to be measured. The vehicle for measuring performance is a model with a set of indicators in each of the three major components. It was found that measurement models can be divided into four major categories: • Market capitalisation methods • Return on assets methods • Direct intellectual capital methods, and • Scorecard methods. Twenty-seven different models were investigated in order to understand which indicators were necessary to measure Intellectual Capital in an organisation. In order to propose a new framework a study was firstly done on what a framework should look like and which elements should be included. Thereafter an investigation was done to determine which indicators should be included in such a framework. As it was found that such a framework is very organisation-specific, a brief overview of the RAU was given and according to the strategic objectives of the University as set out in the three-year rolling plan a set of indicators was decided upon. It was necessary that each of these indicators indicate whether the University had been successful in the key performance area through the management of its Intellectual Capital. The criteria and indicators identified were applied in the composition of a new model in an effort to find a suitable model for use at universities. The evaluation process turned up the scorecard models as the most suitable for applying in this instance. An attempt was therefore made to modify and adjust these types of models to answer all the requirements of the University. Meeting the requirement that indicators from all three major components must be present was possible. Efforts to adapt existing models in such a way that sub-components can also be measured were met successfully. This model was then tested at RAU and it was measured whether the management of Intellectual Capital contributed to reaching the University’s strategic goals. / Prof. A.S.A. Du Toit

Informations and Knowlege are getting very important and that is why it is in interest of every Organization to pernamently develop this Knowlege. Knowledge is becoming the most important parts of the capital and are also irreplaceable competitive advantage. The objective of the work is to become if the chosen company is Learning Organization. Evaluation the selected Company was used to study company materials, Analyses of 4E and questionnaire survey.

Fundamental changes in the global economy are changing the basis of organisational competitive advantage. The challenge in attaining a competitive advantage is characterised by factors such as increased competition, market volatility, geographically dispersed operations, customer awareness, raising workforce diversity and stringent regulatory regimes. These factors have driven, and in turn have been driven by, an increasing complexity of products, services and the processes that create value, resulting in changes in the structural and functional dimensions of the organisation. Business executives and academics recognise the shift in value creating assets from the traditional land, labour and capital to intangible assets such as knowledge and information becoming the most important resources an organisation can muster.The combination and integration of intangible assets such as human resources, structural and relational resources has been grouped under the umbrella of intellectual capital. This study comprises of a single descriptive case study analysis to ascertain how intellectual capital is managed strategically to gain a competitive advantage in an organisation in the banking and financial services sector in Zambia. Based on document review and semi-structured interviews, this thesis investigated the extent to which an organisation in the banking and financial services sector in Zambia leveraged intellectual capital to gain competitive advantage. In this study it was found that there is a low level appreciation of the intellectual capital phenomenon as a strategic management tool in the participating organisation. However, the organisation has adopted aspects of intellectual capital and has implemented them successfully accounting for the organisation‘s competitive edge in the market.

Knowledge is now regarded as the most important resource surpassing other resources like land and capital. It is a foregone conclusion that knowledge flows out of organizations through various ways such as resignations, retirement and death yet, it does not seem as if organizations are employing strategies to retain such a vital component of production and service delivery. This study investigated the knowledge retention strategies in three Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) public broadcasting organizations of the South African Broadcasting Corporation in South African (SABC), the Department of Broadcasting Services (DBS) in Botswana and the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) in Zimbabwe. The aim of this study was to establish how knowledge is captured and retained at such organizations. The objectives of the study were; to find out the types of strategies the three broadcasting organizations employ to capture and retain knowledge; establish how the three broadcasting organizational cultures enable knowledge acquisition, transfer, sharing and retention; establish the role of ICTs as tools and enablers of knowledge retention, creation, transfer and sharing in the three broadcasting organizations; and to propose recommendations on the best strategies for retention of knowledge in the three public broadcasting organizations as well as suggest areas for further and future research. v The study used the survey method and employed the triangulation design for data gathering. Data were collected from three SADC public broadcasting organizations. The population sample comprised 240 professional staff including 38 managers from different sections of the broadcasting organizations. The researcher collected data by administering a questionnaire to staff, interviews with managers and observations. Documentary analysis was also conducted in order to supplement data and fill in gaps. The researcher was mainly interested in gathering data that would give a comprehensive picture about knowledge retention methods in broadcasting organizations. There were four main findings. First, knowledge management as a relatively new concept and practice has not yet been properly embraced in the public broadcasting organization system in order to capture and retain knowledge that is acquired and generated in the organizations. There are no measures put in place in the organizations to retain the knowledge to ensure that once those who hold vital tacit knowledge are gone, the knowledge may still be available and accessible. Second, the study established that the respective organizational cultures impede on organizational knowledge retention. The study established that there was no culture of knowledge sharing. It also emerged that employees were not free to share their knowledge because of government regulations, prevailing political contexts, mistrust and general lack of incentive to share knowledge. Third, the study established that the organizations have no strategies or systems in place to capture the experts‟ knowledge or the knowledge of experienced staff and vi those approaching retiring age. The Human Resources Departments hold exit interviews that cover issues purely to do with why the person is leaving the organization instead of recording the work experiences and expertise of the departing employees. Fourth, the study revealed that the public broadcasting organizations still lag behind in collaborative and communicative technologies that facilitate knowledge transfer and sharing of tacit knowledge but retention of knowledge generally. The study also found that, some of the organizations studied did not have internet connectivity and websites were not yet functional, which hampered acquisition and sharing of knowledge for retention purposes. The importance of this study is that it has made a contribution and provided literature on knowledge retention strategies for public broadcasting corporations as part of knowledge management practice. On the basis of these findings the study recommended the following: appointment of knowledge management officers, establishment of Communities of Practice, encouraging knowledge sharing between employees, introduction of joint programmes with other broadcasting organizations by managers and their supervision of mentoring programmes; organizations to facilitate acquisition of information and communication technologies that enable knowledge management

Knowledge economy management literature is prolific but very little of the retrieved literature relates to the application of these management philosophies within the library and information services industry. The assumptions that underlie this research are in the first instance that, if it is not reported in the literature, it is questionable whether library and information services are implementing the new management practices. Secondly, a perception exists that knowledge economy management philosophies are only truly applicable when managing knowledge workers. Although the traditional 'administrative' or back office library environment is not seen as a knowledge worker domain, for the purpose of this study it was presumed that the advantages of these knowledge economy management philosophies are such that they should also be applicable within the back office environment. The purpose of the study was therefore to test the applicability of knowledge era management practice within an environment not associated with typical knowledge workers. Intellectual capital management was chosen as the core management philosophy to apply but the knowledge management as well as learning organization philosophies were also briefly reviewed. To measure success, a variety of measuring methodologies were investigated. Within the context of the research the most suitable methodology was identified as a hybrid version of Kaplan and Norton's balanced scorecard, based on the philosophy of the intangible asset monitor and including aspects of the value chain scoreboard. An opinion was expressed that the monitoring of intellectual capital growth needs to take place at both the individual and the organizational level if monitoring is to be of real objective value. Implementation of the management practice (intellectual capital management) occurred in two phases and stretched over a period close on 18 months. A situation analysis was done at the start of the research period. Kaplan and Norton's adapted scorecard framework was then utilized to set objectives for each of the two implementation phases. An adapted version of Sveiby's Affärsvärlden model was utilized to identify specific implementation actions and initiatives to be taken. All activities were structured into human, structural, customer and financial capital related issues. This was done to ensure that all capitals were addressed and to be able to measure growth in all of these areas. Measurement results were reported in an intellectual capital report, which was prepared at the end of the study period. The report identified both strengths and weaknesses in the intellectual capital of the service section. From the weaknesses, a number of priority actions were identified while the strengths provided a good lead as to what could be considered the good practice that should be continued. Stakeholders were asked to make use of a list of priority actions and to assist in identifying only those items that should be addressed after the completion of the research. The last chapter of this report was used to: · report and reflect on the results achieved; · identify the lessons learnt in the process of implementing intellectual capital management; · to make recommendations for the service unit; and · to provide recommendations for further study. In brief it is possible to say that intellectual capital management has been an appropriate management philosophy to use within the chosen service environment. It was therefore seen as appropriate to recommend that the principles and practices of intellectual capital management be rolled out to the rest of the service unit. / Dissertation (DPhil (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Information Science / unrestricted

本研究以非營利組織為個案對象，探討其外部報導所需揭露之重要智慧資本及相關管理機制，並提出以下四點結論： 一.個案基金會重視之智慧資本項目分布於八個次分類共23項，且個案基金會所重視之智慧資本項目與其使命、願景及目標緊密結合。 二.個案基金會認為重要之23項智慧資本項目中，有12項報導可行性未達「可行」，背後原因可歸納為：屬內部機密資訊以及指標較為抽象。 三.針對重要之智慧資本項目，個案基金會設有具體的管理制度與方法。 四.個案基金會之智慧資本外部報導可分為兩部份，第一部份為個案基金會之願景、策略、管理挑戰、行動目標及衡量指標；第二部份則是包含人力、結構及關係資本三類項目之智慧資本報表，並將其區分為量化及非量化指標。 / This research adopted case study on the non-profit organization to understand what should be disclosed in the external intellectual capital report and how to manage the specific intellectual capital. The conclusions are as followings: 1.The foundation considered 23 indicators important. These indicators are closely combined with the foundation’s mission, vision, and goals. 2.Among the 23 important indicators, 12 indicators’ reporting feasibility didn’t achieve”feasible”. The reasons are confidentiality and abstract. 3.The foundation has corresponding management measures for these 23 indicators. 4.The foundation’s external intellectual capital report can be divided into two parts: the first part is about the foundation’s mission, management challenges, goals, and measurements; the second part is intellectual capital statement including quantitative and qualitative indicators.

近年來，隨著臺灣醫療產業的重要性漸增及其所面臨的種種挑戰，個別醫院面臨的生存壓力漸增，醫院組織的策略議題也漸受重視，過去文獻多著重於營利組織的策略管理探討，醫院組織雖非以營利為目的，卻仍須重視成本控管與績效表現，以提供更優質的醫療服務，其中，提升資源運用與配置效率是相當重要的課題。 智慧資本導航分析法(ICN)過去多應用於營利企業，本研究目的在於引進ICN分析技術，以量化指標和圖形呈現輔助，分析醫院對於智慧資本資源運用之管理議題。本研究以某個案醫院為例，研究期間歷時10個月，訪談對象為8位來自醫院各部門的高階經營主管，於專業領域的經歷與年資皆相當豐富，各主管針對醫院資源的相對比重及資源間的轉換進行評估，並提出理想狀況的資源轉換關係，作為未來策略發展的參考依據。 研究結果分別回答三大研究議題，就醫院中各項資源的轉換關係來看，「人力資本」主要貢獻於醫師、醫療人員及聲譽形象，且期望於未來投入更多於組織策略與行銷的能力提升和顧客關係的建立；「組織資本」主要貢獻於行政人員、醫師、醫療人員、資訊管理、創新學習、財務管理和流程管理，以吸引人才、提升人力素質和提升組織管理效率為組織創造價值；「關係資本」主要貢獻於強化組織與外部利害關係人之關係。就各項資源間轉換的對稱性而言，各項資本對「關係資本」的投入普遍大於從「關係資本」所獲得的反饋，代表組織未來可思考提升「關係資本」對其他資本的貢獻。此外，傳統資源對智慧資本的貢獻亦大於從智慧資本所獲得的反饋，部分原因可能來自智慧資本的反饋較難具體衡量，而未來仍應以策略目標作為提升智慧資本運用效率的前提。最後，就個案醫院而言，「人力資本」不僅是最重要的資源，同時也是組織價值創造的來源，其中又以醫師、醫療人員和高階管理為主，代表知識與專業是醫院高績效表現最重要的兩項資源。 / This research aims at adopting the intellectual capital perspective and its analytical approach in the managerial practice of a health-care organization. The concept of intellectual capital has been applied to the practice of for-profit organizations. However, health-care organizations, which were regarded as non-for-profit, have not been paied close attention to their resource management. Based on intellectual capital perspective, this research introduces Intellectual Capital Navigator (ICN) approach to evaluate the efficiency of using resources.. This research is conducted by an in-depth study on a hospital, demonstrating the importance of needed resources and analyzing the resource transformation among human capital, organizational capital, relational capital, physical capital and monetary capital. The conclusion of this research found that human capital contributed more to itself and organizational capital. Moreover, it is expected to contribute more to relational capital in the future. When it comes to the symmetry of transformations, ICN analysis shows that each capital contributed to relational capital more than getting from it, and that traditional capital contributed to intellectual capital more than getting from them. This study also found that human capital is the most important value source in the hospital. Therefore, the hospital should pay more managerial attention to the balance and asymmetric transformation among resources to enhance the effectiveness and efficieny of its resource management. The adoption of ICN analytical approach into health-care organization extends the application of intellectual capital management.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:32:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Marcio Aparecido Arruda.pdf: 1751901 bytes, checksum: d2d61273a5296c62be65591f64497119 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-14 / The Resource Based View (RBV), whose basic principles are to qualify the internal intangible and tangible assets of the companies as generators of competitive advantage, also classify them as rare, valuable and difficult to imitate by competitors. In this context, the segment of the advertising agencies is presented as being formed by companies driven by knowledge and simultaneously producers and dependent on intangible assets. Thus, can be considered that the quality and potential to generate future benefits to the agencies are very dependent on the skills of their managers into agglutinate the various kinds of intangible assets turning them into intellectual capital. This study sought to know how is the management of intangible assets that produce intellectual capital in advertising agencies of the State of São Paulo, in order to propose metrics that enable its management. The research is descriptive, exploratory, and qualitative in nature. Data collection was performed through an electronics interview script sent to thirteen agencies in the State of São Paulo, and among them, eight agencies are among the 50 largest in Brazil according to the ranking of the IBOPE 2011. The data were treated by means of descriptive analysis and content analysis. The results showed that although the managers of advertising agencies recognize that the management of intellectual capital is vital for agencies to obtain or maintain their competitive advantage. The theme is still very early in the industry and therefore there is an urgent need of development of a standardized methodology that allows managers of the segment of the advertising agencies evaluate the performance of its intangible assets trainers Intellectual Capital. Based on the results obtained, the main contribution of this study is to propose metrics that allow the management of intangible assets, which form the intellectual capital within the framework of advertising agencies. / A Visão Baseada em Recursos (VBR), cujos princípios básicos consistem em qualificar os ativos intangíveis e tangíveis internos às empresas como geradores de vantagem competitiva, também os classifica como ativos raros, valiosos e de difícil imitação pela concorrência. Nesse contexto, o segmento das agências de publicidade se apresenta como sendo formado por empresas movidas pelo conhecimento e, simultaneamente, produtoras e dependentes de ativos intangíveis. Dessa forma, se pode considerar que a qualidade e o potencial de geração de benefícios futuros para as agencias são totalmente dependentes das habilidades dos seus gestores em aglutinar os vários tipos de ativos intangíveis transformando-os em Capital Intelectual. Este estudo buscou conhecer como se dá a gestão dos ativos intangíveis que produzem o Capital Intelectual nas agências de publicidade do Estado de São Paulo, de modo a se propor métricas que possibilitem a sua gestão. A pesquisa é descritiva e exploratória e de natureza qualitativa. A coleta de dados foi efetuada por meio de um roteiro de entrevista eletrônica enviado para treze agências de publicidade do Estado de São Paulo, sendo que dentre elas, oito agências figuram entre as 50 maiores do Brasil segundo o ranking do IBOPE de 2011. Os dados foram tratados por meio de análises descritivas e análises de conteúdo. Os resultados demonstraram que embora, os gestores das agências de publicidade reconheçam que a gestão do Capital Intelectual seja vital para que as agências obtenham, ou mantenham sua vantagem competitiva, o tema ainda é muito incipiente no setor e, portanto, há a necessidade urgente do desenvolvimento de uma metodologia padronizada que possibilite aos gestores do segmento de agências de publicidade avaliar o desempenho dos seus ativos intangíveis formadores do Capital Intelectual. Com base nos resultados obtidos, a principal contribuição deste estudo é a proposição de métricas que propiciam a gestão dos ativos intangíveis, que formam o Capital Intelectual, no âmbito das agências de publicidades.