organization’s needs. A second view posits that
knowledge can be viewed as a thing to be stored and
manipulated (i.e., an object).
Alternatively, knowledge can be viewed as a
process of simultaneously knowing and acting. The
process perspective focuses on the applying of
expertise. The organizational knowledge must be
organized to facilitate access to and retrieval of
content. This view may be thought of as an
extension of the view of knowledge as an object,
with a special emphasis on the accessibility of the
knowledge objects. Finally, knowledge can be
viewed as a capability with the potential for
influencing future action (Alavi et al., 2001).
Organizational knowledge creation involves
developing new content or replacing existing content
within the organization’s tacit and explicit
knowledge (Pentland, 1995). Through social and
collaborative processes as well as an individual’s
cognitive processes (e.g., reflection), knowledge is
created, shared, amplified, enlarged, and justified in
organizational settings (Nonaka, 1994). This model
views organizational knowledge creation as
involving a continual interplay between the tacit and
explicit dimensions of knowledge and a growing
spiral flow as knowledge moves through individual,
group, and organizational levels.
Four modes of knowledge creation have been
identified: socialization, externalization,
internalization, and combination (Nonaka and
Takeuchi, 1995). The socialization mode refers to
conversion of tacit knowledge to new tacit
knowledge through social interactions and shared
experience among organizational members (e.g.,
apprenticeship). The combination mode refers to the
creation of new explicit knowledge by merging,
categorizing, reclassifying, and synthesizing existing
explicit knowledge (e.g., literature survey reports).
The other two modes involve interactions and
conversion between tacit and explicit knowledge.
Externalization refers to converting tacit knowledge
to new explicit knowledge (e.g., articulation of best
practices or lessons learned). Internalization refers to
creation of new tacit knowledge from explicit
knowledge (e.g., the learning and understanding that
results from reading or discussion).
Knowledge management refers to management
of intangible assets that generate value for an
organization. These intangible assets are related to
processes associated to the recruitment, structuring
and transmission of knowledge. The knowledge
associated with a person and a series of personal
skills becomes on wisdom, and finally knowledge
associated with an organization and a series of
organizational capabilities becomes on the
Intellectual Capital of this organization.
Thus, organizations have the knowledge of the
organization or intellectual capital and this allows
them to develop their essential activity. The
knowledge resides in the system of processes that
gives as results the materialization of the goods or
services.
Brooking (1997) says that the concept of
intellectual capital has been incorporated to define
the set of non-material inputs, and that in the
information age is defined as the main asset of the
third millennium organizations.
The Intellectual Capital of an organization,
according to Brooking (1997) can be divided into
four categories:
• Market assets: related to the knowledge about
the market.
• Intellectual properties assets: referred to the
know-how, to the secrets, copyrights, patents,
design rights, trade and services.
• Assets focused on the individual: these are the
qualities and skills that make up the human
being and that make it what it is.
• Infrastructure assets: referred to technologies,
processes and methodologies that make
possible the organization function.
On the other hand, Steward (1997) defines
intellectual capital as "knowledge, information,
intellectual property, experience, which can be used
to create value." This author makes a very important
point which is that that compares the intellectual
capital with the collective brain power. Steward
divides the capital into three elements: human
capital, structural capital and customer capital.
To Edvinsson and Malone (1997), intellectual
capital is divided into human capital, structural
capital, customer capital, organizational capital,
innovation capital, and capital process. For
Euroforum (1998), the intellectual capital is
composed of: human capital, structural capital and
relational capital.
In general, the value of intangible assets of an
organization is found in the management of their
knowledge, either tacit knowledge of employees
acquired according to its preparation, training and
know-how or the explicit knowledge that is in the
forms of done in the organization such as procedures
and processes, among others.
This article takes as a reference model according
to Munoz, A., Schults, S., and Omaña, T. (2006) in