An investigation on the role of knowledge management and intellectual capital on competitive advantage acquisition (case study: an iranian company)

In a scientific economic system, the lives of products and organizations strongly depend on knowledge and the most successful organizations are those who use this intangible property in a faster and better- managed approach. Studies have shown that knowledge is a genuine resource which leads to business performance increase, in contrary to occasional inefficiency of traditional resources (money, land, machinery equipment, and etc.) Today, from a strategic point of view, intellectual capital is used to create and improve organizational values.

This study investigates the role of knowledge management and intellectual capital on gaining competitive advantage in ‘Saipa’ Company. The results – obtained through the Pierson correlation and regression – represent the positive effects and meaningful aspects of knowledge management and intellectual capital in gaining competitiveness. Then, applying Friedman test, two main categories of variables were ranked in knowledge sharing, knowledge acquisition and knowledge storage were the most important sub-scales in knowledge management dimensions; while among intellectual capital components, relational capital and human capital were the most powerful variables. Finally, the ‘mean’ test results showed that among all variables considered in this study, organizational learning is the only one, which is not at a satisfactory level in the studied organization.