Gregorio Martín de Castro

Organizational knowledge assets and innovation capability

Purpose – Organizational knowledge assets are key organizational factors responsible for firm innovation, as well as effective management. Traditionally, a good piece of research takes the innovation processes from an external perspective, leaving aside the internal complexity that characterizes innovation dynamics. Nevertheless, the innovation capability of a certain firm depends very closely on the intellectual assets and organizational knowledge that it possesses, as well as on its ability to deploy them. In this sense, this paper aims to test empirically the relationships between organizational knowledge assets and the innovation capability of the firm.Design/methodology/approach – The data collection was carried out through a questionnaire on a sample of 251 Spanish high and medium‐high manufacturing firms. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses and multiple linear regressions were also used.Findings – Based on the literature review, this work explores the nature and measurement of organization...

Intellectual capital in high‐tech firms

Purpose – The literature shows several intellectual capital models. Nevertheless, there is little empirical evidence about the building blocks that form intellectual capital in practice. The purpose of this paper is to test the widespread categorization of human capital, structural capital, and relational capital with a survey applied to high‐technology firms from Spain.Design/methodology/approach – Factor analysis was conducted with a sample of 49 firms (larger than 50 employees).Findings – The results indeed demonstrate the existence of three main components of intellectual capital that, in general, fit the dominant structure proposed by other authors.Research limitations/implications – Before moving into an internationally accepted system for classification and measurement of intellectual capital, future research should seek a geographical and industrial agreement about the main components of this construct. In that direction, our empirical evidence provides only the experience of Spanish high‐tech fir...

The role of corporate reputation in developing relational capital

In the present business landscape, relations between firms are one of the most valuable assets. This work points out the main agents to which firms are related, and which build up their relational capital. This proposal highlights the gathering of agents in different levels; one of them constituted by the relations with customers, suppliers, partners, and investors; and the second one related to the relations with state or public sector entities, regulatory institutions, and with the community, as part of a wider or more general environment. Once presented, relational capital, the strategic relevance of corporate reputation is discussed, with a trigger and moderator role for all the previously mentioned relations.

Internal logic of intellectual capital: a biological approach

Purpose – The aim of the present paper is to shed new light on the interactions among capitals in a model of measurement and management of intellectual capital using the theoretical lens of complexity theory. In particular, attempts to contribute to the exploration of the power of biological metaphors in the study of intellectual capital.Design/methodology/approach – The methodology adopted in the present paper is case study research. Cases are especially suitable to answering “how” and “why” questions and are well‐suited to generating and building theory in an area where little data or theory exists. Presents the case study of Caja Madrid, a Spanish savings bank in Spain.Findings – A new framework of analysis is proposed that may help organizations to better picture and understand dynamics of interaction between capitals and elements by defining relationships which explain the creation of wealth through intangibles.Originality/value – Suggests that complexity theory has the potential to shed new light on...

Towards a knowledge‐based view of firm innovation. Theory and empirical research

Purpose – The purpose of this guest editorial is to highlight the importance of knowledge management and organizational learning in firm innovation, offering an integrative framework to understand this complex business phenomenon.Design/methodology/approach – Based on the literature review, the guest editorial shows a general review on “A Knowledge‐Based View of Firm Innovation” articulating and integrating a total number of ten theoretical and empirical contributions about this topic.Findings – Theoretical and empirical works are organized in three main topics. The first one refers to the importance of external knowledge, networking, and relationships as key drivers of firm technological innovation, offering an “open or relational innovation framework”. The second one shows several papers on the growing importance of KIBS (Knowledge‐Intensive Business Services) in a Knowledge Economy and Society. Finally, this general review integrates papers about organizational context, and its role on knowledge manage...

El papel del capital intelectual en la innovación tecnológica. Un aplicación a las empresas de servicios profesionales de España

Resumen El conocimiento organizativo, asi como sus diferentes manifestaciones, juegan un papel crucial a la hora de desarrollar de forma efectiva los procesos, productos y proyectos de la empresa (Kogut y Zander, 1996; Teece, 1998; Alegre y Lapiedra, 2005). El presente trabajo explora el impacto que pueden tener las diferentes manifestaciones de conocimiento organizativo o capital intelectual sobre la capacidad de innovacion en empresas de servicios profesionales. Para lograr este proposito, en un primer apartado se lleva a cabo un analisis factorial exploratorio de donde se extraen los tres bloques principales de capital intelectual: capital humano, capital estructural y capital relacional. En la etapa siguiente se plantean las hipotesis basicas que determinan una influencia positiva de estos tipos de capital intelectual, asi como de sus dimensiones principales, sobre la innovacion empresarial. De los resultados empiricos alcanzados para el caso de las empresas de servicios profesionales espanolas, destaca el papel de las relaciones con clientes, asi como las competencias en tecnologias de la informacion o las alianzas y reputacion empresarial.

Intellectual capital and the firm: some remaining questions and prospects

From the publication of seminal works in the 1990s until now, a great deal of theoretical proposals and empirical evidence has been published on intellectual capital (IC) and the firm. Nevertheless, several problems remain as important impediments to the advancement and consolidation of an ‘Intellectual Capital-based View of the Firm’. Most of these issues have to do with the conceptualization and typology of IC, its measurement, and the limitations of the most common statistical methods. This article highlights the most important of these issues as well as some possible directions for future development.

Vertical relationships, complementarity and product innovation: an intellectual capital-based view

In recent years, the role of a firm’s external relationships in technological innovations is becoming increasingly important among innovation scholars. Following this trend, our paper proposes a new model as a way of analysing vertical collaboration supplier and customer relationship (SUCU) effects on product innovation outputs. Taking complementarity among business actors as the main thesis of this article, we identify four distinctive vertical collaboration profiles with different impacts on the level of product innovation. Results indicated that manufacturers that maintain those supplier and customer relationships simultaneously have a higher level of product innovation. Moreover, customer relationships have a more important role than supplier ones within the development of product innovation.

The complexity in technological capabilities: evidence from biotechnological Spanish firms

The difficult recognition of some individual knowledge-based resources contained within any technological capability and the comprehension of their contribution to its operation, are the most recognised attributes of assets, which must accomplish to create and sustain competitive advantages. Nevertheless, the strategic value of intangible resources needs to receive more empirical attention, since previous results dealing with complexity and its effects on firm success are not conclusive at all. Apart from some environmental variables, one of the reasons that can explain this situation can be related to the theoretical treatment complexity received in the literature. Because of this, our aim is to develop an in-depth empirical analysis, where both quantitative and qualitative approaches to the complexity construct are integrated. To do that, we studied the empirical evidence coming from a sample of biotechnological Spanish firms devoted to either human or animal health.

Intellectual Capital and Technological Innovation: Knowledge-Based Theory and Practice

Knowledge has become a critical factor for contemporary firms. Its increasing relevance has given rise to a new theory of the firm and which closely ties knowledge creation and application to competitive advantage, enhancing support for this knowledge-based view of innovation. Intellectual Capital and Technological Innovation: Knowledge-Based Theory and Practice provides relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings to improve understanding of the current innovation processes from the knowledge based perspective, giving special attention to both the intellectual capital assets that intervene in it, and the social capital that surrounds and enhances or hinders this phenomenon. This book has particular relevance for mangers, academics and consultants benefiting from a thorough understanding of intellectual capital and social capital as a base for improving their tasks.