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Knowledge as a measurable object in business contexts: a stock-and-flow approach

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Knowledge Management Research & Practice

Abstract

This paper addresses the issue of knowledge accounting in business contexts. Despite the efforts of researchers and practitioners, the approaches that have been proposed are different, have several limitations, and their soundness and usefulness have been questioned. Moving from a critical review of the state-of-the art of the methods of knowledge accounting already proposed in the knowledge management literature, the paper illustrates an approach to account for knowledge based on a recognition and measurement of knowledge objects flowing from the stocks of different economic players. This approach can allow a measurement of knowledge generated, possessed, and exchanged by companies, based on charts and indicators similar to those employed in traditional accounting. This can improve the interpretation and comparability of economic measures of knowledge in different business cases and over time.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully thank two anonymous referees and Enrico Scarso for their stimulating comments on an earlier version of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DTG – Department of Management and Engineering, University of Padua, Vicenza, Italy

    Ettore Bolisani

  2. Psychology Department, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, U.S.A.

    Alessandro Oltramari

Authors
  1. Ettore Bolisani
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  2. Alessandro Oltramari
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Correspondence to Ettore Bolisani.

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Bolisani, E., Oltramari, A. Knowledge as a measurable object in business contexts: a stock-and-flow approach. Knowl Manage Res Pract 10, 275–286 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2012.13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2012.13

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