Organisational capital and competence building

The value of an organisation’s capital, widely considered to comprise its knowledge and intangible assets, is increasingly recognised in relation to its realised and potential contribution to competitive advantage. At the same time, our understanding of how to develop and manage these assets over time remains limited to-date. The aim of this chapter is to assess this challenge from both an intellectual capital and a capabilities perspective respectively. Both perspectives highlight the imperative for an integrative approach to competence development given that competence building is itself reliant upon the complex interaction of supporting resources and capabilities as well as the integration of individual and organisation level knowledge that underpins them.