ABSTRACT
The terms ‘knowledge economy’ or ‘knowledge society’ have become increasingly accepted, and form part of the management lexicon as recognition grows of the valuable role that intangible assets and knowledge perform in fi rm success. The challenge of managing and developing these assets is nevertheless a real and complex task. Those assets which potentially contribute the most value to fi rms are often diffi cult to measure, given that they are intangible and even diffi cult to identify because of their lack of visibility. While the heightened importance and role of intellectual property is emphasised within a knowledge economy, less transparent is the value of knowledge, which tends to be more tacit and bound up with individuals in the performance of their specifi c task roles. Given that the value of these assets is increasingly assumed in respect of their realised and potential contribution to competitive advantage, the focus of this chapter is the means through which fi rms manage and develop their ‘organisational capital’ over time.
