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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a measurement system of knowledge‐based assets for graduate students, researchers and practitioners which can help them enhance their understanding of valuation issues. Design/methodology/approach – Three types of validity are reported to be relevant for the purposes of understanding knowledge‐based assets information systems: criterion validity – establishment of a statistical relationship with a knowledge‐based information system and productivity; content validity – representation of a specified universe of contents in the knowledge‐based information system; construct validity – measurement of knowledge. Findings – A framework is provided that helps explain why measurement is important in deciding characteristics such as information value, cost, reliability, validity, and bias (random and non‐random error) which is germane to the development of an efficient and effective knowledge‐based assets information system. Practical implications – The paper is a very useful source of information for graduate students, researchers and practitioners involved with testing, designing, valuing and/or implementing a knowledge‐based information system. Originality/value – A measurement model is presented that may spark future models that can be implemented, tested and translated into actions in various organizational settings.

This article provides a framework of classifying and valuing knowledge‐based assets for possible future presentation along with the historical‐cost basis financial statements. Further, this paper provides a definition and classification for knowledge‐based assets, provides reasons for including knowledge‐based assets with historical‐cost basis financial statements, and provides a three‐way classification system for knowledge‐based assets.

As we have entered into the twenty-first century, the economy has undergone a great transformation. The economy has literally become weightless. In the weightless economy, the emphasis has shifted from machines, materials, and other physical resources to information and knowledge. Information and knowledge are the thermonuclear competitive weapons nowadays. More and more economic activity has become invisible and intangible. The focal point in the new economy has shifted from exploration of physical objects to exploration of knowledge-based resources and their efficient and effective management. In the last decade of the twentieth century, almost unnoticed revolution in the corporate world took place: the transition from industrial capitalism, where business was based on tangible physical assets, to a new economy, where the production of goods and services and value creation in general depends and relies on invisible intangible assets. The primary objective of the present study is to build a theoretical construct in the field of evolution of knowledge asset with a view to exploration of the concept of knowledge asset and the need for its management in modern-day life. It further aims to investigate through an empirical study the qualitative disclosure of knowledge assets in terms of selected attributes for the Indian Pharmaceutical and IT Industries based on their annual reports. Content Analysis technique has been used to analyze the degree of disclosure of knowledge assets in terms of attributes.

During the last decade, intellectual capital (IC) has been widely considered as a critical tool to deliver successful business in an intensive knowledge environment. The main goal of this paper is therefore to develop and prioritize human capital indicators as an important component of IC in knowledge-based industries.

Based on an extensive literature review, a valid and reliable questionnaire was designed. In order to gather data, it was sent out to 108 participants from academia and universities who were well qualified in pharmaceutical practice. Besides statistical analysis, the authors also used fuzzy TOPSIS technique as a MADM model in order to extract prioritization of indicators.

The analysis indicates that there is little difference between academic and university respondents. Furthermore, the fuzzy TOPSIS results show that participants have high concerns especially about knowledge and skills of managers and employees.

The findings offer valuable insights in evaluating the state of human capital state as a key component of IC in knowledge- based industry.

There is an immediate need that the policy makers and corporate managers wake up to the need and start to measure and disclose the intangible assets of firms. Intellectual capital measurement is also of primary interest for top executives of pharmaceutical firms in Iran.

This is an initial and pioneering study to develop a valid tool to evaluate IC in the Iranian pharmaceutical industry. The present study provides a new aspect of performance measurement for research-based industries in emerging economies and would be a good topic for further research.

Knowledge‐based assets and organizational learning capabilities are recognized to be critical for firm's innovation activities. The process of creating new knowledge requires acquiring useful data and information, and utilizing it effectively in its internal innovation activities. To manage external knowledge, firms need absorptive capacity. The purpose of this study is to present the concept of the firm's absorptive capacity as a multidimensional, dynamic construct consisting of capabilities for organizational knowledge processing.

The paper draws on results from a large‐scale survey. The empirical data used in the study comprises of 217 Finnish firms from seven different industry sectors. The hypotheses were tested by means of hierarchical linear regression analysis.

The results of the empirical tests give some support to the view that it is not only the firm's knowledge stock but also its knowledge flows that are crucial for sustaining innovative performance. The regression estimation shows that knowledge‐utilization capabilities were reflected in the firm's innovative performance.

As the data used in the study was cross‐sectional, the causal relationships and the sustainability of innovative performance cannot be captured. Avenues for further research include the interaction between the firm's knowledge base, knowledge processes and innovativeness.

This study emphasizes the importance of the firm's ability to utilize and renew its knowledge base effectively. In order to utilize externally generated knowledge, firms need an ability to internalize it and then combine the information and new insights with the existing knowledge base.

As only little empirical research has been conducted on the impact of knowledge‐processing capabilities on the firm's innovative performance, the empirical evidence reported here makes a valuable contribution in this highly important area.

Despite the growing interest in IJVs and their governance, systematic research is limited on the board of directors and their roles in international joint ventures in emerging markets. In this study, we draw from corporate governance research that suggests that the levels of control and collaboration by boards are influenced by organizational complexity. While joint ventures possess several similarities compared to unitary firms, they also have unique sources of complexity given the fact that two or more international partners collaborate within JVs under an incomplete contract. Based on a sample of 114 IJVs, we argue and show four separate conditions that influence the functions that boards undertake as well as how control and collaboration as two separate functions are interrelated. Our findings address calls for research to open the black box of what boards actually do as well as to bring corporate governance theory to new organizational forms such as joint ventures.

The paper aims to evaluate 141 publicly traded US firms in the traditional sectors of the economy to assess intellectual capital disclosure levels.

Content analysis was conducted using 10‐K annual reports.

It was found that traditional sector companies had a mean disclosure of intellectual capital of 24.227 in fiscal year 2000 and 27.709 in fiscal year 2004 (t=3.68, df = 140, p=0.01). This supported the authors hypothesis that traditional sector companies would show an increase in the level of intellectual capital disclosure in 2004 as compared to 2000. Within the total sample, 78 companies increased their intellectual capital disclosure in fiscal year 2004 as compared to fiscal year 2000 (z=−3.4756, p=0.01).

While the authors generated 121 phrases to tap the intellectual capital construct, there may be other word combinations given the differences in vocabulary between academia and the corporate world.

These findings are particularly noteworthy because traditional sector companies are capital intensive and are reliant upon fixed assets which are reported on the balance sheet. This study suggests that even managers in the traditional sectors of the US economy are coming to recognize the growing importance of intellectual capital.

This is the only longitudinal study to focus on intellectual capital disclosure of traditional firms in the USA, and this research was conducted over the time that the Financial Accounting Standards Board called for increased disclosure of intangible assets.

Increasingly, managers are becoming aware of the importance of knowledge resources in pursuing international business strategy. Knowledge provides the capability to identify, examine and capture market opportunities. It develops competence in important activities and helps resolve problems. Knowledge is also changing the way firms compete, particularly in international business where opportunities to create value are shifting from managing tangible assets to managing knowledge‐based strategies. This shifting competitive landscape is being driven by the speed of competition. Firms require a framework for managing knowledge resources in dynamic and rapidly changing market conditions. This article uses a case study approach to examine knowledge management for an Australian firm with operations throughout Asia. Based on depth interviews with the firm’s 20 most senior executives, we developed a knowledge management strategy for the firm’s international business operations that aimed to address these issues. Our model explains a process for managing knowledge in order to achieve a quantum change in international business strategy. This is particularly important in international business as firms’ recognize the need for different strategic approaches in overseas markets. Our model extends Kaplan and Norton’s concept of strategic themes to incorporate the strategic management imperative of value creating activities. In doing so, it provides a way to link strategy and knowledge resources in order to achieve significant strategic change.

The aim of this paper is to examine the links between project management process characteristics and project-level and firm-level performance outcomes to test the hypotheses that project management assets being valuable, rare, inimitable and having organizational support leads to competitive advantage.

This paper analyzes data from responses to an online survey by 198 North American Project Management Institute® members. Regression analysis is used to examine the relationship between six factors extracted from an exploratory factor analysis that comprise the three project management asset characteristics – valuable, rare and inimitable, three factors that comprise organizational support for the project management process, and two factors that comprise project management performance outcomes – project-level and firm-level performance.

Organizational support for the project management process, specifically project management integration, was found to significantly contribute to both project-level and firm-level performance. Of the asset factors examined, valuable project management knowledge was found to contribute to project-level and firm-level performance, though information technology (IT) tools did not. Inimitable proprietary tangible assets were found to contribute to both project-level and firm-level performance, and inimitable embedded intangible assets were also found to contribute to firm-level performance. Rare knowledge sharing tools and techniques were found to negatively contribute to project-level performance.

Limitations of this study include sample size, response rate and self-report bias, calling for a larger sample in ongoing research.

This study draws managerial attention to project management assets as sources of competitive advantage, highlighting the need to have organizational support for the project management process through organizational integration, and emphasizing the importance of valuable project management knowledge-based assets and inimitable project management assets that are proprietary and tangible as well as those that are embedded and intangible.

Few papers have applied the resource-based view of the firm to examine project management capabilities as a source of competitive advantage. This paper contributes to the literature on the resource-based view of the firm and to an improved understanding of project management as a source of competitive advantage.

A transaction cost analysis model of the situations in which small knowledge‐intensive firms use multiple distribution channels to serve a foreign market is developed. The central argument is that integrated modes are generally preferred, as they facilitate protection of knowledge‐based assets and the provision of high levels of customer service and support. However, it is hypothesised that either plural or hybrid selling may be used, if assets can be protected in other ways, as a response to environmental diversity, when sales volumes are sufficient to support multiple channels, and in relatively mature markets, where sales growth has started to plateau. Data gathered from Canadian software developers generally support these propositions. The results help the managers of knowledge‐intensive firms to identify some of the circumstances in which multiple export channels might be deployed to enhance sales performance in a foreign market.