The main purpose of this research is to establish whether ICT models as implemented in distance education do help to render desirable results (increment in throughput, meeting clientele expectations, and reduction in learner drop-outs). If it is not the case, what could be done to overcome the established hindrance? The researcher employed programme evaluation (PE) which integrates both the positivistic and phenomenological aspects of research. The samples were drawn from the population group through probability and non-probability techniques. Different research strategies within PE such as discovery, inspection and auditing were at first employed to gauge the physical presence of what is being achieved by Unisa through use of myUnisa & DVC; followed by the use of the surveys (personal interviews, administered questionnaires, focus group interviews). The ultimate outcomes of the said research activities are audiovisual recordings, statistically analysed transcripts and questionnaire data. The researcher employed the following key questions in grappling with issues in this area; their findings are also given: i. Does the application of ICTs facilitate and enhance flexible learning at Unisa? With reference to flexible delivery as it relates to aspect of teaching and learning in Engineering, it has been established that minimal use is made of ICTs. Are the technologies correctly applied for teaching and learning? Based on the evidence of research findings it has been established that technology application is mainly used for administrative support rather than for teaching and learning. iii. Do the instructional design and technological applications meet the needs of their users? As matters stand, the study suggests that users' expectations through rating their perceptions and attitudes (academics, tutors, instructional designers, multimedia developers and learners), are far from being met (as all the critical parts of the models are not yet in place regarding the Engineering and other departments). According to the main finding, while there is some evidence of efforts aimed at proper implementation, underutilisation of the ICTs appears to be the main problem, as established at Unisa and elsewhere. The research is concluded through a number of recommendations based on the established findings. / Educational Studies / (D. Ed. (Curriculum Studies))

The objectives of the study were to determine the relationship between the demographic variables, work-life balance (as measured by the Survey Work-Home Interaction - Nijmegen), job satisfaction (as measured by the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire) and turnover intention (as measured by the Turnover Intention Scale); to determine whether the demographic variables and work-life balance significantly predict job satisfaction and turnover intention; and to determine the differences between biographical groups. A quantitative cross-sectional survey research design was applied to a stratified random sample of 79 employees in a South African IT company. Descriptive statistics, correlations, independent t-tests and regressions were used to analyse the data. Analysis revealed that job satisfaction has a significant negative relationship with turnover intention. Furthermore, the work-home interface sub-dimensions of work-life balance have both a positive and negative relationship with job satisfaction and turnover intention. There are significant differences between the various biographical groups. / Industrial and Organisational Psychology

During the year 2007 when this thesis was completed the European Union could look back at fifty years of collaboration, which began with the signing of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and which has developed from being mainly economic in character to incorporating a political as well as a social dimension at the European level. In 2007 the European Union also commemorated the twentieth anniversary of Erasmus, its higher education mobility programme. It is this relatively new political dimension which I have been interested in investigating in this thesis. More precisely, it is the political construction of a common European identity which is analysed using a critical discourse analysis approach. The major aim of this thesis has been two-fold. The first aim has been to investigate how the European is constructed in the discourse contained within the official European Union documents. I have been interested in analysing the various structures, in the form of ideas and norms which are used to construct 'the European'. The second aim has been to explore whether the role of higher educated, as constructed in the official European Union discourse, is given a similar identity-making role as education is argued to have in the nation-state according to the theory on national identity. I argue that there are three versions of European identity construction, i.e. cultural, civic, and neo-liberal, with their own relationship to higher education, present in the empirical material analysed, consisting of official European Union documents. Further, this thesis is also a study of the power of modern government. I argue that there is an increase in normative soft power where 'the Good European' is not something 'you' are but something 'you' become by being a responsible active citizen. Through the use of critical discourse analysis I illuminate the power which resides in the language in the discourse analysed. Thus, I have been interested in investigating how the discourse analysed works to both include and exclude individuals. / Under 2007 då denna avhandling färdigställdes kunde den Europeiska Unionen se tillbaka på femtio år av samarbete som började med Romfördraget 1957 och som har utvecklats från att vara framförallt ekonomiskt till att även behandla politiska och sociala frågor på den europeiska nivån. År 2007 firade den Europeiska Unionen även tjugoårsjubileet för Erasmus, sitt program för rörlighet inom högre utbildning. Det är denna relativt nya politiska dimension som jag har varit intresserad av att undersöka i avhandlingen. Närmare bestämt, det är den politiska konstruktionen av en gemensam europeisk identitet som analyseras med hjälp av kritisk diskurs analys. Syftet med avhandlingen har varit tvådelat. Det första syftet har varit att undersöka hur europén skapas i diskursen som finns att finna i officiella EU policy dokument. Jag har varit intresserad av att analysera de olika strukturer, i form av idéer och normer som används för att konstruera 'europén'. Det andra syftet har varit att undersöka om högre utbildning, som den konstrueras i den officiella EU diskursen, har samma identitetsskapande roll som utbildning sägs ha i nationalstaten enligt nationell identitetsteori. Jag påstår att det finns tre versioner av europeisk identitet, i.e. kulturell, politisk och neoliberal, var och en med sin egen relation till högre utbildning, i det empiriska materialet, bestående av officiella EU dokument, som har undersökts. Dessutom, avhandlingen är en studie av den makt som är del av modernt styrande. Jag påstår att det har varit en ökning då det gäller 'mjuk. makt där en 'God Europé' inte är något 'du' är utan något 'du' blir genom att vara en ansvarstagande aktiv medborgare. Genom kritisk diskursanalys belyser jag uttrycken av makt som finns att finnas i den diskurs jag analyserar. Med andra ord, jag har varit intresserad av att undersöka hur den analyserade diskursen både inkluderar och exkluderar individer.

Inspiré par la réflexion quant aux nouvelles formes d’organisation du travail de la nouvelle économie, ce mémoire s’intéresse à la question des heures supplémentaires non formellement rémunérées chez une frange de travailleurs hautement qualifiés, les concepteurs de jeux vidéo. Très innovantes pour les employeurs, ces formes d’organisation, en particulier l’organisation par projets, ne sont pas sans poser des problèmes aux travailleurs. À l’instar des travailleurs du savoir qui sont souvent prêts à investir de longues heures au travail, les concepteurs de jeux vidéo travaillent fréquemment en heures supplémentaires. Or ces heures supplémentaires sont non seulement non rémunérées, mais elles sont aussi longues et fréquentes. Comment en vient-on à faire accepter aux concepteurs cette situation, sans toutefois exiger d’eux qu’ils travaillent en heures supplémentaires? Pour explorer cette question, les discours de 53 concepteurs de jeux vidéo montréalais ont été analysés. Les résultats de cette recherche dévoilent une explication basée sur un système informel de récompenses et de châtiments qui induit chez la majorité des concepteurs de jeux interrogés une propension à travailler en heures supplémentaires non rémunérées. / Inspired by the reflection made on the new forms of work organization system brought by the new economy, this M. Sc. Thesis is interested in unlimited overtime informally compensated for, among a highly skilled group of workers: video game developers. Innovative from employer’s standpoint, these types of organization system, in particular the project-based system does generate problems for the workers. Like the knowledge workers who are willing to invest long hours of work, the video game developers frequently work overtime. Not only is this overtime unpaid, but also it is long and frequent. How does management come to make the developers consent to such a demand, without requiring them to work overtime? To explore this question, we analyzed the interviews done with 53 designers from the Montreal’s video game industry. Indeed, interviews revealed that a majority of game developers make unlimited unpaid overtime on a regular basis. The results of this research offer an explanation based on an informal system of rewards and punishments.

Cette thèse s'inscrit dans le cadre de l'économie de développement, et tente de traiter la question de blocage économique dans la région arabe, une situation qui a longtemps marqué cette zone. Nous proposons une nouvelle carde d'analyse qui adopte la notion de l'économie fondée sur la connaissance (EFC), qui a été élaboré par la Banque Mondiale, dans laquelle cette économie est composée de quatre piliers, a savoir : incitation économique et régime institutionnel, éducation et ressources humaines, Système d'innovation et l'infrastructure d'information (TIC). La thèse emploie le concept de l'EFC afin d'inspecter, d'analyser et d'évaluer la situation économiques dans les pays arabes depuis l'indépendance et jusque la veille des révolutions arabes, nommé : le printemps arabe. A travers de cette thèse nous élaborons plusieurs types d'analyse, et à la fin de thèse nous proposons un modèle économétrique permettant l'évaluation de la contribution de la connaissance à la croissance et au développement dans ces pays. / This thesis is part of the economics of development. It addresses the issue of the economic morass in which the Arab region has been mired for decades. We suggest a new analytical framework that builds upon the concept of knowledge-based economies and its four pillars – economic incentive and institutional regime, education and human resources, innovation system, and, finally, information infrastructure (ICT) - as conceived by the World Bank. Our thesis mobilizes this concept of knowledge-based economies in order to analyze and evaluate the state of the economy in the Arab region from the independence period to the eve of the revolution in Arab countries ' Arab spring'. Throughout the thesis, we develop several types of analysis and we conclude with an econometric model, that assesses the contribution of knowledge to growth and development in the Arab region.

Cette thèse se propose d’explorer les modalités de constitution d’un domaine de production de savoirs dits académiques dépendant du pouvoir politique. La première partie examine la convergence de trajectoires individuelles vers une activité relativement nouvelle, située au carrefour de champ professionnels et centrée sur l’analyse de la politique étrangère turque menée depuis 2003 par le gouvernement du parti AKP. Partant de là, la seconde partie s’attache plus particulièrement aux liens des acteurs de l’espace identifié avec les responsables gouvernementaux. Il apparaît que ce domaine constitue un champ d’activité dont la structure concentrique découle de la proximité d’une communauté épistémique en son sein avec le champ politique. Par voie d’institutionnalisation et de cooptation du reste du champ, les membres de cette communauté parviennent à imposer une conception utilitaire des sciences sociales permettant de produire des savoirs convergent avec les priorités politiques du moment. La troisième partie examine donc le contenu de ces savoirs de sorte à démontrer le rôle de médiateur joué par le champ expert. Il se confirme alors que sa vocation est de convaincre diverses parties-prenantes, en Turquie et à l’étranger, de la légitimité et l’opportunité du projet hégémonique du gouvernement turc en direction du Moyen-Orient arabe. En définitive, par l’étude de cette configuration experte, a été aussi posé la question de la profondeur de la rupture créée par l’AKP dans le mode de gouvernement et les orientations géopolitique de la Turquie. L’analyse conclut à une rupture dans la continuité / This Ph. D. research offers an opportunity to explore the form of dependency to political power maintained by a self-labelled academic knowledge production domain. This study is based on the case study of Turkish Middle Eastern policy expertise. The first part examines the convergence of individual trajectories towards a relatively new activity in Turkey, located at the intersection of various professional fields and centered on the analysis of the AKP government foreign policy since 2003. The second part then focuses on the links that exist between the previously identified actors and statesmanship. It soon appears that this knowledge production forms a field of activity which concentric structure derives from the proximity of the epistemic community at its very center with the political arena. Through institutionalization and cooptation with the State’s material support, the epistemic community members manage to impose its utilitarian conception of social sciences to the whole expertise field, thereby bringing its actors to design knowledge convergent with the time’s policy priorities. The last part of this work consists of a study of this expertise’s content in order to demonstrate the go-between function played by experts. It appears ultimately that their mission is to convince foreign policy stakeholders in Turkey and abroad of the legitimacy and opportunity of Turkey’s hegemonic project towards the Arab Middle East (2003-2013). Finally, through the study of this expert configuration, it is the question of policy change and geopolitical shift that has been examined. The thesis concludes on the hypothesis of change within continuity

L'objet de cette thèse porte essentiellement sur deux points. Le premier est de démontrer que l'intégration du droit d'auteur, telle qu'elle a actuellement lieu dans les pays en voie de développement rencontre d'importantes difficultés. Une analyse du droit positif international permettra de constater que les conventions internationales en matière de droit d'auteur ne permettent pas de répondre aux problématiques se posant dans les pays en voie de développement. Ensuite, une étude du droit d'auteur en République Islamique d'Iran ainsi qu'en République d'Inde permettra d'illustrer les difficultés auxquelles le législateur dans les pays en voie de développement doit faire face, notamment vis-à-vis de l'équilibre délicat qu'il lui incombe de trouver entre une harmonisation avec le droit international d'une part, et les besoins des populations en termes d'accès à la connaissance d'autre part. Le second point vise à analyser les perspectives pour une intégration efficace du droit d'auteur dans les pays en voie de développement, d'abord celles tenant à l'émergence de l'économie de la connaissance (qui a contribué au développement d'importants mécanismes d'assouplissement), ensuite celles déduites des spécificités même d'un droit d'auteur instaurant un équilibre, telles que la valorisation des limitations et exceptions, accompagnée de la mise en place d'un contexte favorable au droit d'auteur. / The purpose of this thesis is two-folded. First of all, this study aims at demonstrating that the integration of copyright, as it is currently taking place in developing countries remains problematic. An in-depth analysis of the state of international copyright law will help demonstrate that international conventions do not tackle the particular issues arising in developing countries. A detailed study of the copyright legislations in the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Republic of India will also help illustrating the difficulties encountered by the legislator in developing countries, who needs to strike a delicate balance between the harmonization with international law on the one hand, and the needs of the people in terms of access to knowledge on the other. Second of all, this research aims at presenting the prospects for an effective integration of copyright law in developing countries, including those relating to the emergence of the knowledge economy (which has contributed to the development of key flexibility mechanisms). Prospects will also be deduced from the specificities of a balanced copyright legislation, by analyzing the importance of achieving the full potential of limitations and exceptions, and establishing an external environment conducive to copyright.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:44:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Giuliano Piccioni Silvestre de Meroe.pdf: 1113833 bytes, checksum: fda9676050288b38540f317a7c4ae708 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-05-18 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Changes in economic scenarios, occasioned by the advent of information technology, and driven by the increasing pace of technological innovation, the socalled knowledge economy, puts knowledge as a decisive factor for the success of organizations in the principles of the XXI century. The new economy increasingly values the so-called intangibles - information, ideas, knowledge and intellectual production - which gives rise to organizations rethink their business models, adapting them to the demands of the new economic dynamics. The transition that we experience, challenges the assumptions of the industrial era, in which the measurement of success of organizations was based on the value of their property. Tangible goods are no longer the only reference value for organizations in the new context in focus. Organizations currently negotiating their intangible assets and leverage competitiveness through various components of intangible assets - intellectual property licensing, ownership of ideas and knowledge from outside organizations, externalization of their own ideas and internal knowledge. This picture of changes in contemporary society provides an environment for greater participation of stakeholders in the innovation process of organizations, and reflects an evolution in their business models to an open system, with more porous borders of organizations to the environment. The growing appreciation of the intangible capital - intangible assets, knowledge, ideas, intellectual property, etc. - and the use of IT tools are in two important vectors of the knowledge economy. The purpose of this study is to see whether companies that adopt a model within a collaborative logic, you get competitive advantage by becoming permeable to knowledge outside of their domain. Given this purpose, we will examine the concepts of innovation, will also be evaluated as the practice of a collaborative management model, proposed by Professor Henry Chesbrough, the scientist who coined the term open innovation. The implementation of this model, however, is linked to the organization's ability to strengthen its connections with other agents. For this reason, the study of social capital will be appropriate for this work because we see their relationship with this new management model. From this approach will be possible to understand that building a network of relationships between agents increases the fluidity in the exchange of knowledge, information and ideas among the participating actors. The interdependent relationship of support elements examined - the emergence of a new economy, intangible assets as the main component of value, capital, innovation, intellectual property - leads us to the conclusion that innovation is open on a model, potentially able to leverage competitive advantage for companies that fit into their busines models / As mudanças nos cenários econômicos, ensejadas com o advento das tecnologias de informação, e impulsionadas pela aceleração do ritmo da inovação tecnológica, na chamada economia do conhecimento, colocam o conhecimento como um elemento determinante para o sucesso das organizações, também nos princípios do século XXI. A nova economia valoriza cada vez mais os chamados bens intangíveis (informação, ideas, conhecimento e produção intelectual) o que dá vazão às organizações repensarem seus modelos de negócio, adaptando-os conforme as exigências da nova dinâmica econômica. A transição que experimentamos desafia os pressupostos da era industrial, na qual a mensuração de sucesso das organizações era fundamentada no valor de seus bens materiais. Os bens tangíveis não são mais a única referência de valor para as organizações no novo contexto. As organizações, atualmente, negociam os seus bens intangíveis e alavancam competitividade por de diversos componentes desses bens imateriais (licenciamento da propriedade intelectual, apropriação de ideas e conhecimentos externos às organizações; externalização das próprias ideas e conhecimentos internos). Esse quadro de transformações da sociedade contemporânea propicia um ambiente adequado para maior participação dos atores no processo inovativo das organizações, bem como reflete uma evolução em seus modelos de gestão, para um sistema aberto, com as fronteiras das organizações mais porosas ao meio ambiente e ao contexto. A valorização crescente do capital imaterial e o uso das ferramentas da Tecnologia de Informação constituem-se em dois vetores importantes da economia do conhecimento. A finalidade deste trabalho é verificar se as empresas que adotam um modelo inserido em uma lógica colaborativa obtêm vantagem competitiva ao tornarem-se permeáveis aos conhecimentos além de seus próprios e domínios. Para atender a esse fim, examinamos o conceito de Inovação, como a prática de um modelo de gestão colaborativo, proposto pelo Professor Henry Chesbrough: de inovação aberta. A implantação desse modelo, no entanto, está vinculada à capacidade da organização de consolidar suas conexões com os demais agentes. Por essa razão, o estudo do capital social será apropriado a este trabalho, pois verificamos sua relação com esse novo modelo de gestão. A partir dessa abordagem será possível compreender que a construção de uma rede de relacionamentos entre os agentes eleva a fluidez na troca de conhecimento, informação e ideas. O relacionamento interdependente dos elementos de apoio examinados (emergência de uma nova economia; os bens intangíveis como principal componente de valor; capital social; inovação, propriedade intelectual) leva-nos à concluir que a inovação aberta constitui-se em um modelo potencialmente capaz de alavancar vantagem competitiva para as empresas que o adaptarem a seus modelos de negócios

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T16:45:07Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Henri Vahdat.pdf: 689911 bytes, checksum: fb47f48cb8c58a2ec65cd081e212871a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-06-05 / The purpose of this work is to present a proposal of a corporate university that may assist organizations achieve new levels of productivity and competitiveness. The argument presented herein is that knowledge became a dominant factor in society s economic life and therefore must gain centrality in strategies of countries and corporations that aim to survive and prosper. In the ambit of corporations, in particular, corporate universities have proven to be an instrument for human capital development, amplifying the chances of organizational success in a world characterized by change, complexity and globalization. This dissertation is organized in four parts, along which the author fundaments his assumptions and propositions. Part I highlights the emergence of what some authors have called as the knowledge economy. We argue that knowledge is now the basic form of capital and that sustained economic growth in the new world economy depends on the successful conception of strategies that involve the use and creation of knowledge at the center of the process of economic development. Part II describes the scale and depth of the changes unleashed by the knowledge economy and the consequent need for a new enterprise organization centered in change, innovation, operational efficiency and sustainability. Part III discusses the origin, distinctive characteristics and the value that a corporate university may add to the business. Part IV analyzes two experiences of the concept s implementation one in Brazil and another one abroad that help to illustrate in what measure current corporate practices adhere to the proposed structure. The methodological approach consisted of exploratory research, with the purpose of advancing current propositions on the subject. The proposed model is utilized to assess the maturity level of two implementations of the concept in the corporate world. As conclusion, we underscore that corporate universities represent a clear evolution in comparison with current T&D departments and a privileged way of qualifying a company s workforce for the achievement of lasting competitive advantage. As a suggestion for future research, we recommend an investigation on the extent to which corporate universities help attract and retain the human capital of an organization / O objetivo do presente trabalho é apresentar uma proposta de universidade corporativa, tendo em vista a necessidade das empresas de alcançar novos patamares de produtividade e competitividade. O argumento apresentado é que o conhecimento tornou-se fator dominante na vida econômica das sociedades e, como tal, deve ganhar centralidade nas estratégias de países e empresas que queiram sobreviver e prosperar. No âmbito das empresas, em particular, as universidades corporativas têm provado ser um instrumento para o desenvolvimento do capital humano, amplificando as chances de sucesso dessas organizações em um mundo caracterizado pela mudança, complexidade e globalização. Essa dissertação está organizada em quatro partes, no decurso das quais o autor procura fundamentar seus pressupostos e proposições. A Parte I trata da emergência do que alguns autores convencionaram chamar de a economia do conhecimento. Argumentamos que conhecimento é, agora, a forma básica de capital e que crescimento econômico sustentável na nova economia mundial depende da concepção bem-sucedida de estratégias que envolvam o uso e a criação de conhecimento no centro do processo de desenvolvimento econômico. A Parte II descreve a escala e profundidade das mudanças desencadeadas pela economia do conhecimento e a conseqüente necessidade de uma nova organização empresarial centrada em mudança, inovação, eficiência operacional e sustentabilidade. A Parte III apresenta as origens, características distintivas e o valor que uma universidade corporativa pode agregar ao negócio. A Parte IV descreve duas experiências de implementação do conceito - uma no Brasil e outra no exterior permitindo ilustrar em que medida as práticas empresariais atuais se aproximam da estrutura proposta. O método utilizado consistiu de pesquisa exploratória, tendo-se como objetivo evoluir as proposições atuais sobre o tema. O modelo proposto é utilizado para avaliar o grau de maturidade de duas implementações do conceito no mundo corporativo. Como conclusão do trabalho, tem-se que a universidade corporativa representa uma clara evolução com relação aos atuais departamentos de T&D e uma forma privilegiada de se qualificar a força de trabalho para a conquista de vantagens competitivas duráveis. Como sugestão para novas pesquisas, recomendamos investigar em que medida as UC têm servido para atrair e reter o capital humano das organizações

La théorie des ressources affirme que les avantages concurrentiels résident dans la mobilisation des actifs précieux qui sont difficiles à imiter. L'Approche du Capital Immatériel (ACI) prolonge cet argument en étudiant ces ressources; plus particulièrement celles qui sont fondées sur la connaissance et qui peuvent être classifiées dans l'une des catégories suivantes: Capital Humain, Capital Structurel, ou Capital Relationnel.Cette thèse cherche à évaluer l'ACI en tant que cadre pour rechercher les conditions favorables permettant aux entreprises d'innover en créant des nouveaux biens et services (produits). Spécifiquement, ce projet doctoral vise à analyser les rôles de chaque type de capital immatériel dans l'innovation de produits. Fondée sur des données européennes, cette thèse examine différents types d'entreprises (nouvelles, petites et moyennes entreprises, et grandes entreprises) et les secteurs d'activités (y compris l'industrie et les services). Le Chapitre 1 examine le capital humain et d'autres déterminants du taux de création d'entreprises dans les villes européennes. Ensuite, le Chapitre 2 examine l'impact de la diffusion des connaissances sur la façon dont l'investissement en R&D interne apporte à l'innovation de produits. Puis, le Chapitre 3 utilise le concept de capacité d'absorption pour explorer comment les similarités des actifs immatériels entre les entreprises sont associées à la performance de leur capital relationnel.En général, ce projet doctoral souligne que l'ACI fournit un cadre propice pour formuler et vérifier des hypothèses concernant les moteurs de l'innovation de produits. Il permet de mener des études portant sur la façon dont les entreprises mobilisent leurs actifs immatériels afin de développer et commercialiser de nouveaux produits. Par ailleurs, cette approche facilite l'interprétation des résultats afin de recommander des décisions managériales et des politiques publiques visant à articuler davantage les pratiques des entreprises. / The resource-based view of the firm argues that competitive advantages lie in the use of valuable resources that are difficult to emulate. The intellectual capital-based view (ICV) extends this argument by studying such resources; particularly intangible (or knowledge) assets that may be classified in three main components: human, structural, and relational capital.This thesis aims to evaluate the ICV as a framework for understanding the favorable conditions that allow firms to innovate by creating new goods and services (i.e., products). Specifically, this thesis seeks to analyze the specific roles of each capital capital component in product innovation. Using European data, it covers an ample range of firm types (i.e, nascent firms, small and medium-sized enterprises, and large firms) and business sectors (including manufacturing and services). Chapter 1 investigates human capital and other determinants of business creation as a measure of entrepreneurship in European cities. Chapter 2 examines the impact of knowledge spillovers on in-house R&D investment and innovation performance in firms. Chapter 3 leverages the concept of absorptive capacity to explore whether similar configurations of IC are associated with the performance of relational capital in companies.Overall, this dissertation finds that the ICV provides a fertile ground to formulate and test hypotheses concerning the drivers of product innovation. It allows to focus research on how companies mobilize intangible assets in order to develop and commercialize new goods and services. Furthermore, this approach provides several lessons for managers and policy recommendations that may help to articulate corporate practices.