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• Module overview
• 1. Introduction to knowledge management
  • 1.1 Knowledge management in organisations: Theory and practice
  • 1.2 Information and knowledge
    • 1.2.1 Distinguishing information, data, knowledge and wisdom
    • 1.2.2 Knowledge defined and managed

• 2. Type and structure of knowledge

  • 2.1 Type and structure of knowledge
    • 2.1.1 The structure of purposeful knowledge in an organisation
    • 2.1.2 Explicit and tacit knowledge
  • 2.2 Acquiring knowledge
    • 2.2.1 Sources of knowledge

• 3. Knowledge and learning

  • 3.1 The ability to learn as knowledge
  • 3.2 Types of knowledge and culture, meaning, and learning
  • 3.3. Knowledge management and balanced learning strategies

• 4. A knowledge management cycle

  • 4.1 A Knowledge Management Framework
    • 4.1.1 Stages in KM Cycle
  • 4.2 Dimensions to KM Strategy
    • 4.2.1 Leadership dimension to KM
    • 4.2.2 Governance and policy dimension
    • 4.2.3 Architecture dimension
    • 4.2.4 Absorption dimension
    • 4.2.5 Measurement dimension
  • 4.3 Knowledge as a basis for organising

• 5. Conduct a knowledge audit

  • 5.1 Knowledge audit
    • 5.1.1 Conducting a knowledge audit
    • 5.1.2 The Audit Process

• 6. Organisational Knowledge Capital

  • 6.1 Building an organisational Knowledge Capital framework
    • 6.1.1 IC and KC
    • 6.1.2 The value of knowledge
  • 6.2 Structural capital
  • 6.3 Social capital
  • 6.4 Human Capital defined
    • 6.4.1 Capital resources for organisations
    • 6.4.2 The individual as a capital resource
    • 6.4.3 Ingredients to HCM

• 7. Valuing forms of knowledge

  • 7.1 Valuing forms of knowledge assets
    • 7.1.1 Valuing Intellectual assets
    • 7.1.2 Valuing knowledge as an intangible asset

• 8. Information management systems

  • 8.1 Information management systems
    • 8.1.1 A basic information management framework
    • 8.1.2 Building systems to meet individual and organisational needs
    • 8.1.3 Information guardians versus stakeholders
  • 8.2 Structure and information transfer
    • 8.2.1 Information relevance and timeliness
    • 8.2.2 Information characteristics versus decision types
    • 8.2.3 Storage and retrieval

• 9. Information capture and intelligence gathering

  • 9.1 Information capture and intelligence gathering
    • 9.1.1 Developing a 'wish list'
    • 9.1.2 Finding answers
    • 9.1.3 Integrating intelligence within a knowledge management framework
  • 9.2 Forecasting methods
    • 9.2.1 Issues to consider when forecasting

• 10. IT and E-commerce

  • 10.1 An overview of e-commerce
  • 10.2 The Internet, computer networks and e-commerce
    • 10.2.1 Internet speed, innovation and change
  • 10.3 E-commerce advantages and disadvantages
    • 10.3.1 E-commerce advantages
    • 10.3.2 E-commerce disadvantages and constraints
  • 10.4 The Internet and business
    • 10.4.1 Drivers of e-commerce and Internet growth
  • 10.5 E-commerce and e-business

• 11. IT and supply chain management

  • 11.1 Electronic supply chain management (eSCM)
  • 11.2 E-logistics
    • 11.2.1 Are e-logistics and e-commerce the same thing?
    • 11.2.2 E-logistics blurs older logistic business categories
  • 11.3 E-procurement
  • 11.4 E-fulfilment

7.1.1 Valuing Intellectual assets

Intellectual assets are the ‘know how’ and the associated knowledge artefacts, solutions and methodologies that are developed by a company to perform, improve responsiveness, become more competent or innovate (Huang, 1998). In this sense intellectual assets are capital assets residing in the structural capital pool of assets. Thomas Davenport and Kevin Desouza (2003:2) noted that intellectual assets can be categorised into two main types:

• Product assets are the specific outputs or work products of knowledge work. When someone writes a legal brief, codes a software program or drafts a product design specification, she is creating a product asset. Product assets must generally be modified or adapted to some degree in reuse, because the objective of two work products is seldom identical. When a programmer borrows a software chapter from a code library and modifies it for a new purpose, he is reusing a product asset.
• Process assets in an organization can be defined as the codified knowledge of how to perform a task. One form of process assets are "rule-based" assets "where following procedures yields the one correct answer to a specific problem."3 These rules can be automated, as in spell-checkers or software-producing circuitry design, or embodied in worker routines and guidelines.

Valuing intellectual assets largely revolves around how these assets contribute to commercial success of the organisation. This brings into play the importance of organisations being able to manage and value intellectual property (IP). As organisations move to compete on what they know, not just what they can do the value of strategic assets lies in intellectual knowledge capital not physical plant and other tangible assets. Intellectual property is where intangible assets – copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc – are managed and leveraged as a valuable asset.

 

Activity 1

Using either a web search or a desktop research project within your own organisation or one with which you are able to gain access determine the following.

1. Define what constitutes intellectual property (IP)
2. Establish how and when IP becomes valuable.
3. Do ideas represent IP that can also hold an intellectual asset value?
4. Do licenses and formal business agreements with other companies represent IP that also can hold an intellectual asset value?
5. Can companies lend money against the value created in IP?

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