Assessing strategic knowledge assets in e-business

Capabilities and their underlying knowledge assets represent a major competitive resource for knowledge-intensive organisations such as e-businesses. The research presented in this paper utilises a series of case studies to identify the key knowledge assets for e-businesses. The paper suggests the Knowledge Assets Map as a framework to identify and manage key capabilities and key assets in today’s economy. The Knowledge Asset Map identifies the following six areas as critical: stakeholder relationships, human resources, physical infrastructure, culture, practices and routines, and intellectual property. Furthermore, the paper provides managerial guidelines to design knowledge assets metrics.