How to Define and Measure Knowledge for the Analysis of Competitiveness

Linking creation, use, and transfer of knowledge to a company‟s economic performance remains an important, yet little studied area of academic research. In this article, I extend MERITUM Project objectives that seek standards upon which to measure intangible assets. This is important because of the firm‟s need to measure and identify intangible assets like knowledge thereby increasing competitiveness. A firm engaged in the production of steel jackets for the offshore oil industry in peripheral Norway is used as a case study in which to develop definitions and metrics of knowledge for the analysis of competitiveness. The com-pany under examination has about 600 employees, an annual production value of about 200 million USD, and seeks to acquire and develop knowledge capital by looking at three key fac-tors including identification (what are the central knowledge processes that take place?), measurement (what kind of indicators can be used?) and management (how is management of knowledge integrated in the general management of the firm?). Results suggest that it is pos-sible on the firm level to link knowledge to competitiveness in a manner in which manage-ment can use it as a strategic device