Managing Intellectual Capital
Book

Managing Intellectual Capital

Organizational, Strategic and Policy Dimensions

David J. Teece
Oxford UP, 2001

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Innovative
  • Applicable

Recommendation

In his preface, author David J. Teece promises a theoretical framework for understanding intellectual property and practical advice about managing it. Theory ultimately prevails in this book, but valuable nuggets of managerial guidance await any entrepreneur willing to dig for them. As a professor and as the presenter of Oxford’s Clarendon Lecture in Management Studies, from which this book is drawn, Teece naturally tends toward abstract thinking. Some of the territory has been traveled before (i.e. the message that bureaucratic, hierarchical organizations tend to stifle innovation) but Teece adds a lot of intriguing material. getabstract.com believes analytically minded academics, entrepreneurs and executives will find Teece’s volume illuminating, most notably his educated perspective on antitrust activism in the high tech arena. He concludes that government regulators should probably stick to regulating industries they understand. Well, if they want to understand intellectual property, they should start here.

Summary

Types of Knowledge

Did you ever think that your knowledge about knowledge might be lacking? You probably tend to think of knowledge as one entity - you either have it or you don’t. Just as light is considered the opposite of dark, despite the countless shades and gradations available, we tend to think of knowledge as either present or absent. Well, knowledge isn’t what you thought.

The New Global Economy

Fundamental changes have altered nothing less than the basis of competitive advantage and the functions of management. These changes include a decrease in the cost of the flow of information, an increase in the number of markets and deregulation of international financial flows. Now, the new core business is development and deployment of intangible assets (knowledge). The traditional bases for competitive advantage, such as access to natural resources, access to skilled labor and ownership of plants and equipment, are being stripped away. Even so, visionary leaders who know how to make the most of knowledge and competence can earn supernormal profits.

The Genus of Genius

Business actually depends upon taxonomies of knowledge, and the different...

About the Author

David J. Teece teaches business administration at the University of California at Berkeley, and is the director of the Institute of Management, Innovation and Organization. He has held previous positions at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University, and at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies. He presented the Clarendon Lectures in Management Studies in 1998 and in 1999 was awarded the Andersen Consulting Award.

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