Relational capital

About: Relational capital is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 1518 publications have been published within this topic receiving 74425 citations.

Social Capital, Intellectual Capital, and the Organizational Advantage

Abstract: Scholars of the theory of the firm have begun to emphasize the sources and conditions of what has been described as “the organizational advantage,” rather than focus on the causes and consequences of market failure. Typically, researchers see such organizational advantage as accruing from the particular capabilities organizations have for creating and sharing knowledge. In this article we seek to contribute to this body of work by developing the following arguments: (1) social capital facilitates the creation of new intellectual capital; (2) organizations, as institutional settings, are conducive to the development of high levels of social capital; and (3) it is because of their more dense social capital that firms, within certain limits, have an advantage over markets in creating and sharing intellectual capital. We present a model that incorporates this overall argument in the form of a series of hypothesized relationships between different dimensions of social capital and the main mechanisms and proces...

The Relational View: Cooperative Strategy and Sources of Interorganizational Competitive Advantage

Abstract: In this article we offer a view that suggests that a firm's critical resources may span firm boundaries and may be embedded in interfirm resources and routines. We argue that an increasingly important unit of analysis for understanding competitive advantage is the relationship between firms and identify four potential sources of interorganizational competitive advantage: (1) relation-specific assets, (2) knowledge-sharing routines, (3) complementary resources/capabilities, and (4) effective governance. We examine each of these potential sources of rent in detail, identifying key subprocesses, and also discuss the isolating mechanisms that serve to preserve relational rents. Finally, we discuss how the relational view may offer normative prescriptions for firm-level strategies that contradict the prescriptions offered by those with a resource-based view or industry structure view.

Intellectual Capital: Realizing Your Company's True Value by Finding Its Hidden Brainpower

Abstract: Intellectual capital is a phrase covering corporate brainpower, information technology, and relationships with customers and suppliers, all of which influence a company's ability to make money They are all factors which tend to get overlooked because they are intangible and do not show up on a balance sheet Yet without them, a good company can founder This guide shows how to measure, manage and grow these hidden values as if they were money and takes accounting to a new level It establishes the need for identifying hidden assets, develops principles for intellectual accounting, explains the metrics, applies the model with real examples and provides an action plan for managing development and growth of intellectual capital

Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations

Abstract: This work argues that knowledge has become the most important fact of economic life. It is the chief ingredient of what is bought and sold, the raw material people work with. In the new economy, intellectual capital - not natural resources, machinery or financial capital - has become the one indispensable asset of corporations. The volume shows how the emergence of the information age has changed the nature of wealth, and it offers new ways of looking at what companies do and how to lead them. In an economy based on knowledge, intellectual capital - the untapped, unmapped knowledge of organizations - has become a company's most useful tool. It is found in: the talent of the people who work there; the loyalty of the customers it serves and learns from; the value of its brands, copyrights, patents and other intellectual capital; and the collective knowledge embodied in its systems, management techniques and history - vital assets that are rarely managed and almost never managed skilfully. Readers should learn how to discover and map the human, structural and customer assets that are the knowledge based of a corporation; how General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, McKinsey, Merck & Co manage intellectual capital to improve performance; how intellectual capital can dramatically increase profitability; why the information economy demands new principles of managing people and working with customers; and how the knowledge economy affects readers personally, in their career, and how to capitalize on the opportunities it presents.

Learning and protection of proprietary assets in strategic alliances: building relational capital

Abstract: One of the main reasons that firms participate in alliances is to learn know-how and capabilities from their alliance partners. At the same time firms want to protect themselves from the opportunistic behavior of their partner to retain their own core proprietary assets. Most research has generally viewed the achievement of these objectives as mutually exclusive. In contrast, we provide empirical evidence using large-sample survey data to show that when firms build relational capital in conjunction with an integrative approach to managing conflict, they are able to achieve both objectives simultaneously. Relational capital based on mutual trust and interaction at the individual level between alliance partners creates a basis for learning and know-how transfer across the exchange interface. At the same time, it curbs opportunistic behavior of alliance partners, thus preventing the leakage of critical know-how between them. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.