Knowledge Capital
Knowledge Capital
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Every business requires people, and it how you keep your key people that matters. You could lose every tangible asset-furniture, fixtures, buildings, cars, files, computers, and everything else-but as long as you kept your key personnel, you could be back in business again tomorrow, generating sales and making profits.
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There are three types of knowledge that a business needs to survive and thrive. Personal knowledge, company knowledge, and market knowledge.
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Personal knowledge is the specific knowledge, skills, education, background, experience, training, and core competencies that an individual owns and takes with her from place to place. The ability to write, to speak publicly, negotiate, to sell, to make presentations, to type, to prepare final statements, and so on, are all forms of personal intellectual capital. The more of these kinds of knowledge and skills that are relevant to your business a person has, the more valuable that person can be.
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The process of interviewing and selection, as well as delegation, supervision, and promotion, revolves around the determination and deployment of these core skills.
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The second type of knowledge is the knowledge of your specific company. This form of intellectual capital is very valuable. This includes knowledge about the processes and procedures within your business, the key personalities and their relationships to each other, your products and services and how they are developed, sold, and delivered, and all the other unique factors and features that make your business different from any other.
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When a person works for a business for any time, that person absorbs an enormous amount of valuable information about how the business functions. This heightened knowledge and awareness has a real value. If you lose a person who is intimately familiar with many aspects of your business the cost of hiring and training a new individual to the same level of competence can be very high.
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The third type of intellectual capital is specific knowledge about the market, your customers, and your competitors; and about your products and services, and the way they are marketed, sold and delivered. The kind of customer and market knowledge can be of inestimable value in the competitive market place. The longer a salesperson, for example works for a company, the more valuable he becomes in terms of his network of contacts and his intimate knowledge of customers-who they are, where they are, why they buy, and the various buying influences that operate on them.
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Not long ago, a client company of my friend brought in a new controller who has been entrusted with the function of cost reduction. The controller glanced over the payroll and arbitrarily decided that the top salesman was earning too much money and insisted the corporate office that the commission of the salesman be cut, his territory be reduced, and several of his major clients be turned into “house accounts.â€
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The salesman concerned represented about 40 percent of the total sales of this medium-sized manufacturing company. When they told him that they were going to cut his commissions and cut his territories, thereby reducing his income by more than 50 percent he protested. He was of the opinion that he has with the company for more than 12 years and has taken a lot of pains in building his customer base.
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The company refused to listen and they were of the opinion that the customers belonged to the company and not to him. The customer’s loyalty shall therefore be towards the organization and towards their products and services. Hence they felt that there is no reason for the company to pay such exorbitant money to service accounts. They categorically stated that if you’re not happy with these new arrangements, you can go somewhere else.
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The salesman tried to reason with the management, but to no avail. Finally, he quit the organization and walked across the street to their major competitor, taking all the accounts, references with him. His old company’s sales dropped by about 40 percent the following year. They almost went bankrupt. They had no idea that the relationship between the salesman and his customers was perhaps the most valuable form of intellectual capital in the entire company.
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The object of elaborating this point is that any employee who possesses personal knowledge, company knowledge and market knowledge is indispensable and the management at all costs has to ensure that he is taken care of. One needs to have more of these kinds of employees rather than having employees being filled against vacant positions. Such employees do not only add value to themselves but add immeasurable value to the organization, society and country at large.
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The said article has been written by Mr. Iyer Subramanian. E Mail: iyerpdkgnm@yahoo.com, Cell no. 9892523163.
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Watch the video related to Knowledge
k-web.org Demo of basic function of open source knowledge exploration software based on PBS Connections series. Much more information at k-web.org
Help answer the question about Knowledge
What new knowledge and technologies enabled 15th century mariners to make long overseas voyages?What new knowledge and technologies enabled 15th century mariners to make long overseas voyages? Where did much of this technology originate?
About Author
My name is Iyer Subramanian. My qualifications are as under. Bachelor of Arts, Diploma in Personnel Management and Industrial Relations, Diploma in Labor Laws & Labor Welfare, Diploma in HRM, Diploma in Training & Development.
I have around 25 years of experience in HR and write for Express Hospitality, Hospitalitybiz, Business Manager regularly on HR.
Posted on September 29, 2009 at 1:49 am
This video needs a serious update, if it’s going to be viewed on the main website: quality wise.
Posted on September 29, 2009 at 2:05 am
Risky in today's market you might want to consider this.
I own my own home business but because of the rules here I am not able to give you the website. If you are interested in knowing more about it, click the link in my profile.
Posted on September 29, 2009 at 2:05 am
Form an LLC if it is possible in your area. Get a good accountant and get to work. If all your partner is doing is bank rolling the entire thing you may want to structure his compensation to decrease as the business increases and your workload increases. You will need to talk to them about that first and formost.
Posted on September 29, 2009 at 9:16 am
It’s still alive and we are working on getting it moved on soon. Watch this space 
Posted on September 29, 2009 at 6:50 pm
I wonder if the project’s been abandoned. I was excited when I first heard of this, but there seems to be spotty updates at best on the site. It would be interesting to see if the Kweb concept could be integrated with other software like Google Earth and Wikipedia, and other troves of info on the web. James was talking about a “knowledge web” a long time ago, even back when he did the original Connections.. and it’s nice to see just how right he was.
Posted on September 29, 2009 at 8:30 pm
Is it using the activeworlds software for the 3d parts?
Posted on September 29, 2009 at 8:31 pm
I don’t understand…where *is* all this great stuff? It looks pretty well developed, so where is it?
Posted on September 30, 2009 at 11:16 pm
We’re watching the space and don’t see much activity
Posted on September 30, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Wow. That is about 2 years of uni right there, in one question….
For knowledge production in feminist studies look up feminist methodology – it is quite similar to qualitative methodology – ie, small scale, in depth interviews designed to find out the subjective experience of participants.
For agency and subjectivity you will need to compare individualist theories like liberal feminism against structural theories like socialist / marxist feminism. Liberal feminists believe women have full and free agency, constrained only by unequal laws and rights. Socialist feminists believe agency is constrained by structure, so that even where women have equal rights, they are still inherently disadvantaged by the system simply by virtue of being the sex that reproduces.
Ideologies of race and nation are alleged to be found in much mainstream feminism – see black feminism for a critique on this.
Anti-imperialist would probably be black feminism, as well as burgeoning movements like Muslim feminism – basically any feminist group not coming from western europe / US.
Marxist feminism was 'borrowed from' by socialist feminism – much like mainstream Marxism was 'borrowed from' by mainstream socialist parties – like the UK Labour Party. At the same time that it borrows from this structural theory, it also borrows from individualist Liberal feminism, creating what I believe is called 'dual systems theory'. This causes inherent contradictions in the theory, which tries to combine structural and agency theories 
Posted on September 30, 2009 at 10:36 pm
You are actually asking three questions. You want to pay yourself before you pay the government, you want to become independent, and you want to accumulate wealth. For a limited amount of time, you need to put paying yourself before the government, deferred compensation, on the back burner. By far your largest current expense is your shelter. This might be an apartment or house. Opportunities vary from place to place, with real estate values currently going though an adjustment, or falling, in some places. If you live in a large city, chances for investment are not as good as if you live in a moderate sized city or large town. Here is what I suggest. Invest in two things equally, your health and property. Never get so focused on wealth that you ignore your health. Being wealthy doesn't can't for much if you don't live to enjoy it. Start becoming a property junkie. Read the want ads, learn about fore closure sales, make a friend that works for a title company. What you are looking for is a duplex. As a young person, there are special programs for first time home buyers. A duplex can still qualify as a home, rather than as an investment. Move into one half and rent out the other. The rental income should cover most of your monthly mortgage. Don't make the mistake of spending what you are saving. You got a low down payment on the first property because it was a "first time home owner" loan. The next down down payment will be higher. There are currently many people who are going to loose their homes because they got in over their heads with the stupid adjustable mortgages offered by banks a couple of years ago. Find a property where the owner needs to crawl out from under the mortgage. With your good credit, offer to take over the payments and let them walk away to avoid bankruptcy. Then, quickly refinance with a fixed rate and move in. Now you can rent out the half of the duplex you were living in. Now, you have a positive cash flow on your duplex with the rental from both of them more than covering your costs. Make your monthly house payments, fix any problems, and put it on the market. As you do, start looking for another duplex or rental property. Be warned, this is not free money. Renters can be a stone cold bitch. Talk to people who have rental properties and learn how they screen people and what safeguards they take. You have the benefit of age on your side. Have a goal and work toward it. For example, I want to retire to a good life at age???? Set bench marks along the way. Let someone else drive the new BMW now, you can drive the elegant Mercedes S class later.
Posted on October 1, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Take a certification in management or go back to school.
Even though some companies ask you especially for your experience.
Take a course in management and in marketing.
What can you lose?
Posted on October 1, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Your teacher should know
Posted on October 1, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Wow… it looks like there hasn’t been a news update to the site since 2006. Not a good sign. That’s a bummer.
Posted on October 1, 2009 at 8:54 pm
You can run an affiliate site for free just about. Sign up with commision junction, google adsense, and other commision programs. Build a website selling other peoples products and you get commision. its pretty easy. I did this with cheaperpossibilities.com the site is down right now it is alot of maintenance to keep up with.
Posted on October 2, 2009 at 6:16 am
we have to wait for it…i hope it doesn’t get abandoned.
Posted on October 2, 2009 at 2:37 am
Buenas dias Alba,
Do not invest anything before you learn about investing. Start by reading a basic book on investing first. Your public library may have some. The books stores will have some books. One that comes to mind is "Investing for Dummies". I have not read it but it has received good reviews. But do not stop there. That is just a beginning. Use your 2,000 pesos to improve your knowledge.
Posted on October 2, 2009 at 8:09 am
I'm not an expert on how Germany regulates business entities, but I am familiar with how the American counterpart, limited liability companies (LLCs), work, so I can give you some information about that. LLCs in the US are generally sole proprietorships or partnerships whose owners want the limited liability benefit of corporations while retaining the tax benefits of uncorporated businesses, so capital from LLCs are usually contributed by the owners themselves, who then share in the profits and losses. LLCs can't raise capital by issuing shares because they are not public companies. They can't file with the SEC, and they cannot issue shares to the public. LLC owners' "partnership interests" can occasionally be transferred or purchased, but this is almost always done for reasons other than to raise capital. So, for LLCs in the US, the short answer is no.
Hope this helps!
Posted on September 29, 2009 at 1:29 am
Good one. Now you may want to share the knowledge using eZdia. Check eZdia