Knowledge management capability: defining knowledge assets

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to show that separate sources of knowledge are identified, described and clearly defined as organizational intangible knowledge assets. These knowledge assets are referred to as knowledge capabilities (KCs). knowledge management (KM) is utilized to leverage these assets with a view to systematic improvement in the process of achieving increased firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – In this paper knowledge capabilities are described in terms of their knowledge life cycle, tacit/implicit/explicit nature of knowledge, technology and organizational processes that encompass a firm's human capital identified as knowledge workers. Findings – The paper finds that five knowledge capability are presented and described as expertise, lessons learned, policies and procedures, data and knowledge documents. Research limitations/implications – The paper shows that knowledge assets can be measured and improved in order to investigate causal relationships with identified measures of performance. Practical implications – The paper shows that by explicitly describing these knowledge assets, the KM activities within organizations can more effectively leverage knowledge and improve performance. Originality/value – The paper sees that by drawing from both resource based and organizational learning literature, a knowledge management framework is presented to describe distinctly separate sources of knowledge within organizations. These knowledge sources are constructed as knowledge capabilities that can allow the assessment of organizational knowledge assets.