ABSTRACT As enterprises have increased the demand for logistics services, the role of logistics service providers (LSPs) as home bases for merchandise transportation and distribution has consequently become increasingly important. Therefore, how to strengthen the logistics capability and promote the logistics performance has become an important topic. In addition, traditionally the perspective of treating tangible assets as the location of firm¡¦s value has been gradually diminished. The intangible intellectual capital is increasingly playing a pivotal position for the firm¡¦s performance. Researchers studied the field of intellectual capital argued that intellectual capital was the main source of organizational competitive advantages. Besides, they thought that the better the intellectual capital a company has, the better the business can have the ability to generate performance. However, researchers seldom distinguished static intellectual capital from dynamic capability for utilizing intellectual capital. Whereas, this study proposed that these two constructs were different concepts, and would like to explore the impact of utilizing intellectual capital on logistics performance. Consequently, this study integrated the concept of RBT and dynamic capability to offer a conceptual model, a survey of LSPs was undertaken in order to examine the relationships among intellectual capital, logistics capabilities and firm performance, using the structural equation modeling technique (SEM) analysis method. Previous researches had concerned the tangible resources, capabilities and firm performance, however, less from the perspective of intangible resources to study this subject. Hence, after reviewing the relevant literature, we conclude human capital, structural capital, and relational capital as dimensions of intellectual capital. Furthermore, from the empirical results of related scholars¡¦ researches, this study argues that it has a directly significant effect of logistics capabilities on logistics performance, and logistics capabilities are the critical factors for utilizing intellectual capital. Moreover, this research proposes that logistics capabilities are complex constructs. Therefore, we should clarify these constructs and provide an appropriate measurement tool with reliability and validity if we would like to measure them. Consequently, logistics capabilities were identified: service capability, innovation capability, and flexibility capability. Finally, after clarifying the definition and extracting the components of each variable from the literature review, this research deduced several hypotheses and formed the research framework. In this study, we take logistics service providers in Taiwan as the study sample. A total of 1,033 questionnaires were hand delivered and the remaining 109, valid and complete, were used for quantitative analysis. The useable response rate was 10.6%. A structural equation modeling (SEM) approach was employed to test the research hypotheses. Results indicated that structural capital, relational capital, and logistics capabilities had a significant positive effect on logistics performance. Results also indicated that human capital, structural capital, and relational capital had a positive effect on LSPs¡¦ logistics capabilities. While human capital was not found to have a direct positive effect on LSPs¡¦ logistics performance, it was found to have an indirect effect on logistics performance mediated by logistics capability. According to the results, LSPs should enhance the intangible resource - intellectual capital, further heighten their understanding of logistics capabilities and identify how such capabilities may affect logistics performance, therefore develop effective logistics strategies.

Магистерская диссертация рассматривает проблему повышения конкурентоспособности промышленного предприятия на основе создания системы управления структурным капиталом. Автором рассмотрены понятия "интеллектуальный" и "структурный капитал", их структура, а также предложен подход к управлению структурным капиталом на промышленном предприятии. / Master's thesis addresses the issue of increasing the competitiveness of industrial enterprise on the basis of the management system of structural capital. The author has considered the concept of "intellectual capital" and "structural capital", examined their structures, as well as an approach to the management of structural capital in the industry.

Problem: Utvecklingen i världen går mot en allt mer kunskapsinriktad ekonomi där den immateriella tillgången intellektuellt kapital blir viktigare bland företag. De redovisningsprinciper som finns idag baseras på principer från så tidigt som 1400-talet då man ville bokföra transaktioner för in- och utbetalningar av pengar. Principerna modifierades något under den industriella revolutionen för att man skulle kunna sätta upp materiella ting som tillgångar. När man nu går in en ny revolution, den mänskliga, hur är synen på det intellektuella kapitalet och hur redovisas kapitalet som inte får ske i företagens balans- och resultaträkning. Syfte: Studiens syfte är att studera vad som skett med utvecklingen av intellektuellt kapital i kunskapsföretagens årsredovisningar och undersöka vilka faktorer och omständigheter som påverkar utvecklingen. För att se på hur efterfrågan ser ut på information om det intellektuella kapital granskas även dess roll vid förvärv och värdering av företag. Teori: Studiens teoretiska referensram tar först upp centrala begrepp i studien såsom kunskapsföretag samt tar upp ett antal modeller som föreslår olika sätt att visa företagens intellektuella kapital i siffror. Till sist presenteras tidigare forskning inom ämnet som kommer användas i analysen. Metod: Valet av metod för denna studie är kvalitativ och ansatsen är deduktiv. Empirin har tagits fram genom flertalet intervjuer med forskare och revisorer samt genom granskning av fem kunskapsintensiva företags årsredovisningar. Slutsats: Synen på intellektuellt kapital har utvecklats i viss utsträckning då företag är alltmer medvetna om vikten av att behålla och utveckla sitt humankapital. För att det intellektuella kapitalet på ett tydligare sätt ska åskådas i de finansiella rapporterna krävs det i framtiden att högre instanser ger företag rekommendationer för hur de ska gå tillväga. / Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the development of the intellectual capital in knowledge-based company’s annual reports and explore which factors and circumstances that can affect this development. In order to see how the demand is for information about intellectual capital in annual reports, its role in acquisitions and valuation of companies is examined. Method: This study is based on a qualitative method with a deductive approach. The empirical data has been gathered through interviews with two researchers, one auditor and two managers for valuation and acquisition. There have also been examinations of five knowledge-based company’s annual reports. Conclusions: The view of intellectual capital has developed to some extent since corporations are increasingly recognizing the importance of maintaining and developing its human capital. For the intellectual capital to be viewed in a clearer way in the financial reports it is required that in the future higher instances give companies the adequate advice in how to do so.

Introduction     Knowledge has come to be an increasingly important factor for both individuals in the labor market and companies in competition. When a person leaves an organization the knowledge often follows, and a knowledge gap is created. When knowledge is shared within an organization, the individual’s knowledge is available for all members of the organization. Knowledge can thus be converted from human capital to structural capital. Increased demand in the construction industry has enlarged the need for broader and deeper knowledge of the individuals. Thus the question of knowledge sharing is raised. Purpose           The overall purpose of this report is to provide a systematic and documented image of the knowledge sharing process within the project organization of Skanska by investigating how the company uses strategies, procedures, and systems to manage knowledge from projects to minimize the risk that employees' skills will be lost to the organization. Method            The study is a qualitative research where the empirical material has been collected through a case study. The execution was based on a total of five interviews with respondents within different positions. Conclusion      Although Skanska partially converts human capital into structural capital, the study indicates that the company’s documented explicit knowledge is rather available as support and guidance to the daily work. Instead, the company builds their competitive advantage in several cases by human capital that is created and spread through socialization. / Inledning         Kunskap har kommit till att bli en allt viktigare faktor för såväl individers ställning på arbetsmarknaden som företags konkurrenskraft. När en personer lämnar en organisation följer kunskapen ofta med individen, detta medför att ett kunskapsgap skapas. När kunskap delas blir individens kunskap tillgänglig för organisationens medlemmar. Kunskapen kan således omvandlas från humankapital till strukturkapital. En ökad efterfråga inom byggbranschen ökar behovet av bredare- och djupare kunskap hos individerna och således aktualiseras frågan om kunskapsdelning. Syfte              Det övergripande syftet med denna rapport är att ge en systematiserad och dokumenterad bild av Skanskas arbete med kunskapsdelning i sin projektorganisation. Detta skall göras genom att kartlägga hur Skanska med strategier, rutiner och system hanterar kunskap från projekt för att minimera risken att kunskapen hos medarbetarna ska gå förlorad för organisationen. Metod              Studien är en kvalitativ forskning där det empiriska materialet har samlats genom en fallstudie. Genomförandet byggde på intervjuer med totalt fem respondenter med olika organisatoriska roller inom Skanska. Slutsats            Även om Skanska till viss del omvandlar humankapital till strukturkapital indikerar studiens resultat på att företagets dokumenterade uttalade kunskap mer finns som stöd och riktlinjer för det dagliga arbetet. Istället bygger företaget i flera fall sina konkurrensfördelar på humankapital som skapas och sprids genom socialisering.

In the knowledge economy, the 'creative industries' are recognised as a new paradigm. They are industries which use creativity as an intangible asset to generate wealth. The creative industries are described as 'evolving' and their outcomes frequently categorised as 'intangibles'. The thesis outlines what I term a creative industries approach to the engagement of visual artists with industry. The artist-in-industry program, a component of New Possibilities for Paper, was established with an explicit brief to generate creative products and contained an implicit agenda to breed intellectual capital. It was conceived as a means of crossfertilising hitherto siloed sectors -- an arts environment with entrenched attitudes towards the subsidy, proprietorship and authority of creativity and the traditionally conservative paper industry. Establishing creative industries characteristics and indicators to describe and measure creative industries operation in this program required careful consideration, with the characteristics and indicators selected able to recognise trends or changes. The analysis of the seven partnerships confirmed that the artistin-industry program is a creative industries approach upon which future programs between visual artists and the paper industry could be constructed. The research found that the creative industries processes in most need of being addressed, if visual artists are to maximise their benefits, included an understanding and utilisation of intellectual property, knowledge of commercialisation processes and a positive attitude towards commercialisation. For paper companies that invest in R&D, there is recognition that potential tangible and intangible benefits can result from engaging in such partnerships. Additionally, a partnership in which the artist's role (or service) is focused on the industry's customers and contributes to employee knowledge was seen as being of greatest value to the paper industry.

Southern California has great economic importance to the USA, with major revenue generation counties like Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara. Downtown Los Angeles is a major business hub for many industries, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with densely populated metropolitan areas in urban settings. From technology to media, a wide range of diversified SMEs operate within the Southern California region. Little evidence is provided in the academic literature on Southern California’s SMEs and their relation to Knowledge Management (KM) and KM strategies. This research aims to explore and examine, in depth, Southern California’s SMEs and to provide the SMEs’ decision makers with an effective strategy to implement Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) into their organisations. The overall aim of this thesis is to complement and enhance the existing KM literature by examining the relationship between Human Capital (HC) and Organisational Structural Capital (OSC) from a Knowledge Management perspective. The conceptual framework developed in this thesis draws on the strategic management perspective of KM and KMS from the existing literatures. Focusing on and analysing the two main elements, i.e. HC and OSC, to critically examine how the relationship between both elements could affect SME performance. In addition, by drawing on the resource-based view of the SME and the KMS perspective, the thesis explores the influence of KMS on both the HC and OSC elements in the SMEs of Southern California. To validate the framework, empirical research was performed, followed by the distribution of a questionnaire to 1,000 respondents within the SME sector in Southern California, and particularly to areas with high business revenue, such as Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara, of which 367 completed responses were considered valid to use in this research. This study has applied structural equation modelling (SEM) to test the proposed research framework using IBM SPSS V.22 and AMOS V21. The findings reveal that the majority of the SMEs are aware of their knowledge usage as the main competitive advantage. However, SMEs are not always aware of the best methods to capitalise their existing KMS and how to utilise it to the optimal level, especially with regard to business objectives and obligatory requirements repeatedly taking precedence. These results indicate that the implementation of an enhanced KMS strategy, i.e. the developed framework, will enhance SME performance by aiding the decision makers further in the exploration of employee awareness (HC), company goals, and being competitive through making the relevant decisions, which is a contribution of this study. The originality of this study is that it endeavours to obtain new insights on the subjects of KMS, HC, OSC and SME performance, using tactical suggestions for Southern California’s SMEs in managing knowledge, controlling knowledge gaps, and reflecting among these factors. This thesis makes a step forward and contributes to the body of knowledge, e.g. it explores and examines relevant elements and factors of both HC and OSC that enhance the decision-making process in SMEs through the conceptual and the developed frameworks (see Figures 3.6 and 4.21). In addition, this thesis makes a further contribution to the application of current theories (e.g. the Knowledge-Based theory of the Firm and Organisational Learning theory) by providing a framework to address the relationship between Human Capital (HC) and Organisational Structural Capital (OSC) from a Knowledge Management perspective, in the context of Southern California’s SMEs with a focus on service based firms. While the results cannot be generalised, they can aid others to relate their views to those reported in this thesis.

The purpose of this study is to research the relationships among leadership style, team cohesion, collective efficacy, organizational justice, and organizational capital. This study used the questionnaires as a measurement tool to research, and the questionnaires samples was drawn out from CSBC Corporation, Taiwan all engineers, managements, engineer assistants, and management assistants, the writer released 460 questionnaires to them, eventually ended up effective 375 questionnaires with 82.06% return rate. The findings are as follows. 1. The transformational leadership has positive influence on intellectual capital including human capital, structural capital, and social capital, and the transactional leadership have positive influence on structural capital, but have not any influence on human capital and social capital. 2. Team cohesion merely has partial medium on the relationships among transformational leadership, human capital and structural capital; Team cohesion has full medium on the relationships between transformational leadership and social capital. 3. Collective efficacy has full medium on the relationships between transformational leadership and human capital; Collective efficacy merely has partial medium on the relationships among transformational leadership, structural capital and social capital. 4. Organizational justice has full medium on the relationships between transformational leadership and human capital; Organizational justice merely has partial medium on the relationships among transformational leadership, structural capital and social capital.

To ensure quality patient care hospitals invest in nursing intellectual capital by allocating financial, human and material resources for nurses to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to provide safe patient care. This study’s purpose was to test selected propositions of the middle-range theory of nursing intellectual capital which provides a conceptualization of the influence of nurses’ knowledge, skills and experience (nursing human capital) to patient and organizational outcomes. The theory was systematically developed after a critical review of the literature. It proposes that nursing human capital (registered nurses’ experience, and knowledge and skills acquired from continuing professional development including university courses, conferences, workshops, in-services, specialty certification) is related to variables within the work environment (nurse staffing, employer support for nurse continuing professional development), which in turn, is associated with the quality of patient care (adverse events) and the recruitment and retention of nurses. The theory also proposes that nursing structural capital, nursing knowledge available within practice guidelines, is associated with the quality of patient care. A cross-sectional design was used to test the proposed relationships. The study took place in 6 acute care hospitals in two provinces of Canada. Financial, human resource and risk management data were collected from hospital departmental databases and a survey of unit managers. Data from 91 inpatient units were used with structural equation modeling to test the theory’s propositions. The results indicated that nurses’ knowledge and skills represented by the proportion of RNs with degrees and proportion of RNs with specialty certification were directly associated with low hospital-acquired infection rates. Nurse experience, measured as mean years RN professional experience and RN unit tenure, was found to be significantly related to higher RN recruitment and retention. The proportion of RNs with degrees was found to partially mediate the influence of nurse staffing on hospital-acquired infections. The results provide preliminary evidence of the association of nursing intellectual capital with patient and organizational outcomes. The findings may assist administrators with fiscal and human resource decision-making related to the education of nurses within acute care hospitals, and professional organizations with policies governing nursing education and continuing professional development.

To ensure quality patient care hospitals invest in nursing intellectual capital by allocating financial, human and material resources for nurses to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to provide safe patient care. This study’s purpose was to test selected propositions of the middle-range theory of nursing intellectual capital which provides a conceptualization of the influence of nurses’ knowledge, skills and experience (nursing human capital) to patient and organizational outcomes. The theory was systematically developed after a critical review of the literature. It proposes that nursing human capital (registered nurses’ experience, and knowledge and skills acquired from continuing professional development including university courses, conferences, workshops, in-services, specialty certification) is related to variables within the work environment (nurse staffing, employer support for nurse continuing professional development), which in turn, is associated with the quality of patient care (adverse events) and the recruitment and retention of nurses. The theory also proposes that nursing structural capital, nursing knowledge available within practice guidelines, is associated with the quality of patient care. A cross-sectional design was used to test the proposed relationships. The study took place in 6 acute care hospitals in two provinces of Canada. Financial, human resource and risk management data were collected from hospital departmental databases and a survey of unit managers. Data from 91 inpatient units were used with structural equation modeling to test the theory’s propositions. The results indicated that nurses’ knowledge and skills represented by the proportion of RNs with degrees and proportion of RNs with specialty certification were directly associated with low hospital-acquired infection rates. Nurse experience, measured as mean years RN professional experience and RN unit tenure, was found to be significantly related to higher RN recruitment and retention. The proportion of RNs with degrees was found to partially mediate the influence of nurse staffing on hospital-acquired infections. The results provide preliminary evidence of the association of nursing intellectual capital with patient and organizational outcomes. The findings may assist administrators with fiscal and human resource decision-making related to the education of nurses within acute care hospitals, and professional organizations with policies governing nursing education and continuing professional development.

Magistro baigiamajame darbe išanalizuota valstybės intelektinio kapitalo teorija ir valstybės intelektinio kapitalo vertės nustatymo modeliai. Remiantis išanalizuotais valstybės intelektinio kapitalo metodais ir intelektinio kapitalo teorinėmis prielaidomis buvo sudarytas valstybės intelektinio kapitalo vertinimo modelis. Naudojantis šiuo modeliu buvo apskaičiuotas 30 Europos valstybių 2006-2009 m. intelektinio kapitalo indeksas. Atlikti skaičiavimai leido nustatyti Europos valstybių intelektinio kapitalo vertę, atlikti šios vertės kitimo laike analizę, įvertinti intelektinio kapitalo ir BVP ryšį bei intelektinio kapitalo indeksą sudarančių kapitalų tarpusavio koreliaciją. / Master’s thesis analyses the national intellectual capital theory and national intellectual capital evaluation models. According to analysed intellectual capital evaluation models and theoretical assumptions the national intellectual capital evaluation model was composed. This model was used to identify intellectual capital value of 30 European countries in 2006-2009. The analysis of intellectual capital index tendencies was performed. Strong national intellectual capital correlation with GDP was identified also correlation of structural, human and intellectual capital were identified.