Title: Value creation: knowledge flow, direction, and adaptation

Authors: Douglas A. Hensler, Faizul Huq

Addresses: Craig School of Business, California State University, Fresno, 5245 North Backer Avenue, Fresno, CA 93740, USA. ' Management Systems Department, College of Business, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA

Abstract: To a large extent, the value of an organisation is imbedded in its intellectual capital and its ability to flow information and knowledge directed at creating value. This is particularly true in the organisation|s innovation and creation activities. While information/knowledge stocks speak to an organisation|s static value, the flows and the leveraging of stocks release and enhance the value imbedded in intellectual capital. This paper provides a framework for understanding the mechanism by which an organisation creates value through information/knowledge flows and develops four aspects of this framework. First, in the spirit of the Theory of the Firm, the paper explores the organisational nexus of contracts and the nexus| impact on the manner in which information/knowledge flows or does not flow. Second, the paper examines the transactions costs or frictions that are imbedded in the contracts nexus and proposes approaches to transactions costs reduction. Third, in the spirit of the physical sciences, the paper explains the importance of including both dimensions of flow velocity, speed and direction. Finally, the paper develops a mathematical model showing the importance of knowledge flow direction and new knowledge adaptation in creating value. The paper demonstrates the importance of linearity and nonlinearity to understand knowledge creation and discusses additional complexities for the model.

Keywords: innovation; learning; nexus of contracts; transaction costs; velocity of thought; value creation: knowledge flow; intellectual capital; information flow; new knowledge adaptation; knowledge creation; knowledge processing speed.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLIC.2005.007100

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 2005 Vol.2 No.3, pp.278 - 287

Published online: 26 May 2005 *

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