Proceedings of the 12th European Conference on Knowledge ...

Managing Knowledge-Intensive Centers for Research,
Experimental Development and Application <strong>of</strong> Scientific
Discoveries - <strong>the</strong> Biggest Challenge <strong>of</strong> Knowledge
Management <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 21st Century
Nebojsa Graca 1 and Ana Lucija Gojakovic 2
1
Independent scientific researcher, Belgrade, Serbia
2
Independent economic researcher, Belgrade, Serbia
graca@svestizdravlje.com
ana.lucija@svestizdravlje.com
Abstract: Previous Knowledge Management research has shown that knowledge, <strong>the</strong> way available knowledge
is used, as well as speed <strong>of</strong> acquiring new knowledge, have a considerable influence on competitive advantage
<strong>of</strong> contemporary companies. A deficiency in <strong>the</strong> field <strong>of</strong> Knowledge Management was dicovered in Knowledgeintensive
companies within domains <strong>of</strong> research and development acitivities, and application <strong>of</strong> acquired results
during production <strong>of</strong> new products and provision <strong>of</strong> new services based on absolutely new knowledge (scientific
discoveries). In o<strong>the</strong>r words, <strong>the</strong> above mentioned deficiency manifests itself during transformation <strong>of</strong> absolutely
new knowledge into a newly developed value resulting from scientific and research work - <strong>the</strong> intellectual capital.
Considering that knowledge - a base model <strong>of</strong> economic development <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 21st century, is based on intellectual
capital, a question how to remove <strong>the</strong> essential deficiencies <strong>of</strong> Knowledge Management in Knowledge-intensive
companies which can be viewed as unique factories for „production“ <strong>of</strong> absolutely new knowledge, needs to be
asked? In o<strong>the</strong>r words, how can we connect <strong>the</strong> „production“ <strong>of</strong> knowledge and market demand in order to create
a value which can be valorized on <strong>the</strong> market? If coefficient <strong>of</strong> intellectual value added is <strong>the</strong> most significant
indicator <strong>of</strong> business performance <strong>of</strong> Knowledge-intensive companies, ano<strong>the</strong>r question needs to be asked. How
can we manage <strong>the</strong> intellectual component <strong>of</strong> a business <strong>of</strong>fer (intellectual material) efficiently and effectively,
considering that this intellectual material represents knowledge in <strong>the</strong> process <strong>of</strong> its „production“ from a phase <strong>of</strong>
elementary, applied and developmental research and market placement in <strong>the</strong> form <strong>of</strong> apsolutely new products
and services while providing total quality which surpasses clients’ and competitors’ expectations - Total Quality
Management? In our work we also show that knowledge based on scientific research, represents <strong>the</strong> most
pr<strong>of</strong>itable investment, covert competitive advantage to its owner and unlimited resource for continuous positive
economic results. This is how we confirm, that intellectual capital based on knowledge, justifies its dominant
participation <strong>of</strong> about 77% <strong>of</strong> society’s total capital according to <strong>of</strong>ficial reports <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> World Bank.
Keywords: knowledge;research;development;knowledge-intensive;management
1. Introduction
At <strong>the</strong> transition from one century into ano<strong>the</strong>r, a certain number <strong>of</strong> companies showed an interest
into transformation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> existing way <strong>of</strong> business operations. Numerous economic researchers and
analysts in <strong>the</strong> field <strong>of</strong> management and organizational studying agree with this statement. Therefore,
Morgan believes changes represent natural condition <strong>of</strong> a company. The first change refers to <strong>the</strong>
transition <strong>of</strong> conventional economy into knowledge economy. Knowledge economy has induced
change <strong>of</strong> development concept. Concept <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> sustainable development is replaced with absolutely
new concept <strong>of</strong> development based on intensive knowledge. Optimal control <strong>of</strong> exhaustable
resources (declarative knowledge as a synonim for exhaustable resources) has shown its
incorrespondence in comparison to an authorized concept <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> unlimited development based on
absolutely new knowledge (Graca, 2010). Observed from <strong>the</strong> angle <strong>of</strong> knowledge economy, company
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> 21st century represents syn<strong>the</strong>sis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> three types <strong>of</strong> resources: material, human and
intangible resources (Stewart, 1997). Appearance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> intangible resources have also conditioned
appearance <strong>of</strong> so called s<strong>of</strong>t organizations. S<strong>of</strong>t organizations gradually replaced conventional
organizations, changing <strong>the</strong> business operations paradigm. Changing <strong>the</strong> business operations
paradigm has influenced change <strong>of</strong> managing and developing functions in companies. According to
<strong>the</strong> traditional concept, management is defined as an ability <strong>of</strong> individuals to do business with and by
means <strong>of</strong> people within four stages: planning, organizing, leading and controlling. According to <strong>the</strong>
knowledge management concept, manager is a person responsible for his knowledge and knowledge
<strong>of</strong> his subordinates.
In <strong>the</strong> new business ambience, term knowledge-intensive becomes a synonim for companies which
have tendency towards creation, maintaining and enlarging collective knowledge balance.
Knowledge-intensive companies
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