A Knowledge Management Framework to Manage Intellectual Capital for Corporate Sustainability

The significant development in knowledge management (KM) literature in recent years is a reflection of the growing interest to academics and practitioners/consultants involved in organisational change and business transformation. Knowledge is a major source of competitive advantage and knowledge assets/intellectual capital has to be managed effectively. The importance of implementing a knowledge management strategy to understand the relationship between physical and intellectual capital, to increase the market value of organisations and achieve corporate sustainability is examined. Using case studies of construction organisations and applying the STEPS knowledge management framework, it was found that there is a greater need for multinational organisations to implement KM. This is because they have knowledge that is diverse and geographically dispersed across a network of organisations. It is concluded that knowledge management has a catalytic role in developing intellectual capital to achieve corporate sustainability. The STEPS framework will enable multinational organisations to identify the reform, resource implications and the results of KM activities.