Intellectual Capital in Romania: A

Case Study

Constantin BRATIANU

Simona VASILACHE

Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest

Agenda

Intellectual capital in transition economies

Intellectual capital in Romania Case study: Research Centre for

Intellectual Capital Conclusions

Intellectual

Capital

Human

Capital

Structural

Capital

Relational

Capital

Static structure for the organizational IC

Human

Capital

Knowledge Intelligence Values

Operational structure of the human capital

Individual Knowledge

Knowledge Structure

Explicit Knowledge

Tacit Knowledge

Rational Mind

Non-Rational Mind

Knowledge Transfer Process

Direct Experience

Gardner’s Multiple Intelligence

Linguistic intelligence Logical-mathematical intelligence Musical intelligence Spatial intelligence Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence Naturalist intelligence Personal (intrapersonal and interpersonal) intelligence Existential intelligence

VALUES

Values = Deeply held ideas of members about what is right or wrong, fair or unfair – anything that has personal worth or meaning

We are living in a given culture, which is defined by a set of fundamental values

We learn these values through education in family, school, church and society

Values constitute the reference system of our decisions

Structural

Capital

Knowledge Intelligence Values

Operational structure of the structural capital

Relational

Capital

Knowledge Intelligence Values

Operational structure of the relational capital

Intellectual

Capital

Human

Capital

Structural

Capital

Relational

Capital

K I V K KI IV V

Intellectual

Capital

Human

Capital

Structural

Capital

Relational

Capital

Knowledge Intelligence Values

Organizational Knowledge

Organizational Intelligence

Organizational Values

Tacit

Explicit

Cognitive

Emotional

Business

Social

Organizational Intellectual Capital

Intellectual Capital

Organizational Knowledge

Organizational Intelligence

Organizational Values

Tacit

Explicit

Cognitive

Emotional

Business

Social

Intellectual Capital

?

Knowledge Intelligence Values

INTEGRATORS

Organizational Intellectual Capital

Integrators

An integrator is a powerful field of forces capable of combining two or more elements into a new entity, based on interdependence and synergy. These elements may have a physical or virtual nature, and they must poses the capacity of interacting in a controlled way.

Knowledge Intelligence Values

Integrators

IC

Knowledge Intelligence Values

Tacit

Explicit

Cognitive

Emotional

Business

Social

Individual level

Organizational level

Intellectual capital in transition economies

Transition from planned to market economies in CEE countries

Organizational restructuring Organizational learning

TRANSITION: HOW ?

State property Private property

Controlled prices Liberalization of prices

Planned economyFree market

economy

A TRANSITION PROCESS

Time

Change

Initial state

Final state

Known

Unknown

The production process

Management Workers Union

Communist Party

Organization

Intellectual capital in Romania

Barriers to intellectual capital development: The ideology barrier

Manual workers versus knowledge workers (“We are working, not thinking”)

Reminiscences of this “activist” mentality – “don’t think, act!”

Hard-to-die proletarian mentality - “the way we do things over here”

Intellectual capital in Romania

Barriers to intellectual capital development The inertial barrier

Forces which block change Structural inertia of Romanian organizations These “core rigidities” are intangible, which

makes them difficult to identify.

Intellectual capital in Romania

Barriers to intellectual capital development: The controlling barrier

Hypertrophy of the control function Applied to people, not to processes Irrelevant information resulted from the control

process.

Intellectual capital in Romania

Initiatives:

Workshops and training programs in KM KM lectures in master and PhD programs Research centres in Intellectual Capital

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

Created in 2007, taking as a model the Research Centre for Intellectual Capital at the InHolland University, lead by professor Daan Andriessen

Initiated and coordinated by professor Constantin Bratianu

Includes experienced researchers, as well as young PhD candidates, in the field of intellectual capital

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

Barriers:

Most research centers exist only virtually, as appendices of the respective chairs and departments

No legal and financial independence Research equipments, acquired by research grants

by the members of the centres, enter the “public domain” and are used, in a socialist manner, by all the members of the department, irrespective of their research involvement.

Mixture of teaching & research activity

lack of specialized personnel

Inertial forces of academic management

Limitations to collaboration, as professors teaching in a certain department will almost automatically be affiliated to the corresponding research centre

One faculty member can belong to one and only one research centre

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

Affiliation:

UNESCO Chair for Business Administration

The Head of the Chair is also Director of the Research Centre

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

Mission:

knowledge generation through basic and applied research, technological development and innovation in the field of intellectual capital, knowledge to be disseminated by publications, courses and conferences

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

Key priorities:

organizational intellectual capital, strategic management, knowledge management, organizational learning, organizational intelligence, all connected with the requirements of a knowledge economy, as set on the Lisbon Agenda

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

Structure:

Director: Professor Constantin Bratianu, PhDDirector’s assistant: Assist. Simona Vasilache

Members: Professor Nicolae Al. Pop, PhDAssistant Professor Mihaela Prejmerean, PhDAssistant Professor Adriana Agapie, PhDAssistant Professor Alexandru Agapie, PhDAssist. Ionela JianuAssist. Anca MandruleanuAssist. Corina Pelau

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

STRENGHTS

- visionary leadership, an inspiring mission statement;

- young, dynamic team, with growth potential;

- international visibility of the experienced researchers in the centre;

- involvement in six on-going national projects, and in one international, FP 7, project;

- internal recognition in the university;

- good correlation with the university curriculum, having a course in Knowledge Management at the master level;

- papers accepted and presented at some important international conferences;

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

STRENGHTS (cont’d)

- direct involvement in editing an international journal on Management & Marketing, with a strong emphasis on Intellectual capital;

- direct involvement in organizing an annual international conference on business excellence, with a dedicated workshop on learning organizations;

- integration of teaching and research, since professor Nicolae Al. Pop is the dean of the Faculty of Business Administration, and professor Constantin Bratianu is head of the Chair UNESCO for Business Administration.

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

WEAKNESSES

- not enough national and international recognition, due to its newness;

- low managerial decision power due to the university research management structure and traditions;

- working in a bureaucratic system;

- not having a good web page yet, independent of that of the faculty;

- not enough financial power to enlarge our international participation to conferences dedicated to this field of research;

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

OPPORTUNITIES

- European projects;

- new frameworks for research;

- the possibility to get accredited by the National Research Council, which creates better awareness;

- collaboration with similar research centres, at national and international levels;

- involvement of undergraduate and post-graduate students in the centre’s activities;

- good cooperation with the Research Centre for Intellectual Capital, INHolland University, Amsterdam, The Netherlands;

- international conferences on Intellectual Capital and Knowledge Management.

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

THREATS

- the attractiveness of the topic, which makes researchers without any tradition in the field to claim rights in this domain, and to mystify its concepts and methods;

- the economic crisis which is propagated from USA to Europe.

Case Study: Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

Doctoral research themes:

Intellectual capital evaluation in universities Organizational learning development

strategies in teaching and research hospitals Integrators for organizational intellectual

capital

Conclusions

Realistic mission of the Research Centre for Intellectual Capital

Emerging initiatives in the field in Romania

Collaborative opportunities Still, significant inertia and mentality

gaps between East and West.

QUESTIONS?

Thank you for

your attention!