Leveraging enterprise portals for business performance – the implications for the management of knowledge assets

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:Knowledge is increasingly being recognised as the key element to an organisation’s sustainabilityand competitiveness. Knowledge assets refer to organisational resources made of or incorporatingknowledge. These assets ultimately create the ability for an organisation to carry out a process oran activity aimed to create and/or deliver value. Knowledge assets are identified as firstly, HumanCapital Assets, which are embodied in the employees of an organisation whose talent andexperience create the products and services that can be sold. Secondly, Structural Capital Assetsrefers to knowledge that is captured or institutionalised within the structure, processes and cultureof the organisation. Finally, Customer Capital Assets which refers to the combined value of therelationships with customers, suppliers, industry associations and markets and their customersperception of value of an organisation.Information technology is also recognised as an enabling tool to facilitate knowledge transfer andsharing as it enables knowledge and information flows. In particular, the use of enterprise portals asan information technology enabling platform can provide secure, customised, personalised andintegrated access for employees, customers and business partners to dynamic knowledge assetsfrom a variety of sources in a variety of formats, with an increasing focus on business performance.The research focuses on how organisations can effectively manage their knowledge assets usingenterprise portals and how managing these assets can complement organisational core capabilitiesand competences. Theoretical insights from Boisot’s I-Space framework are used as the foundationfor analysis of the behaviour of information flows and the creation and diffusion of knowledgewithin organisations. The role of technologies as enabling partners in this process are examined andmanagement of knowledge assets through the processes of codification, abstraction and diffusion isinvestigated.Competitive advantage does not flow automatically from the possession of knowledge assets. Anorganisation has to know how to extract value from them and extracting value from knowledgeassets requires an ability to manage them. The Boisot I-Space framework provides constructive anddynamic processes, namely codification, abstraction and diffusion that significantly improve theability to manage knowledge assets. When these processes are integrated into the way an EnterprisePortal is designed and used by an organisation, the ability to manage human, structural andcustomer capital assets is improved. Furthermore, the opportunity for enhanced support of anorganisation’s capabilities and core competences can be achieved and hence the prospect forimproved business performance can be realised.