Measuring and reporting structural capital Lessons from European learning firms

• Published in: Journal of intellectual capital Vol. 5; no. 4; pp. 629 - 647
• Main Author: Pablos, Patricia Ordonez de
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bradford Emerald Group Publishing Limited 01-12-2004
• Subjects: Case studies; Competition; Competitive advantage; Intellectual capital; Knowledge management; Organizational learning; Studies; Europe
• ISSN: 1469-1930; 1758-7468
• DOI: 10.1108/14691930410567059

This paper is structured into four sections. The first section proposes a conceptual framework to analyze organizational learning and its outcomes. It focuses on the strategy perspective of organizational learning – with special attention to the resource and capabilities theory of the firm – addressing its ontology, contributions and problematic. The second section is focused on a particular type of knowledge – the structural capital – that is institutionalized knowledge in the form of organizational processes, structures, technologies, policies and culture. In sum, it represents all forms of knowledge deposits that are not supported by the human being such as organizational routines, strategies and processes and is the result of learning at organizational level. This section studies the map of different types of organizational structural capital of companies: idiosyncratic, core, ancillary and compulsory. Section three shows the results of a case study done in pioneer learning organizations in Europe regarding knowledge measuring and reporting. It analyzes the main indicators used for quantifying the knowledge embedded in the organization and its processes. Finally, the last section explores the main results and implications for knowledge management drawn from this paper.