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

Simone Manfredi, Domenico Celenza and Rosa Lombardi
The potential knowledge <strong>of</strong> an alliance (Lizza 2002) derives from factors such as business learning,
knowledge creation, acquisition and transfer methods, different thinking <strong>of</strong> people who belong to <strong>the</strong>
organization, management involvement.
Business nets or networks, such as partnership agreements and global nets, represent collaboration
which are based on inter-company relationships (Canestrino 2008).
The acquisition <strong>of</strong> knowledge from <strong>the</strong> external environment fosters <strong>the</strong> investment on research for
internal resources, since only companies that have high level intellectual capital can be advantaged
by knowledge coming from <strong>the</strong> external environment (Cohen, Levinthal 1989).
5. Value sharing
Businesses and <strong>the</strong>ir environment share some values that express in <strong>the</strong> fusion <strong>of</strong> personal and
business values. Relational capital can be represented by factors like reputation, image, trust (Pelligra
2007), satisfaction, loyalty marketing. These factors are more or less important depending on <strong>the</strong> kind
<strong>of</strong> relationship that takes place.
Reputation and trust derive from <strong>the</strong> interlocutors’ level <strong>of</strong> satisfaction and loyalty marketing and on
how external interlocutors react to companies.
Business policy can widen or destroy reputation and trust. Companies try and optimize relational flows
by improving reputation, trust and image.
Reputation (Gambetta 1989) lays in what interlocutors think <strong>of</strong> companies. Good reputation, in
addition to fostering and helping find human resources, lets create relations with financial supporters
and suppliers and streng<strong>the</strong>n <strong>the</strong> existing ones with <strong>the</strong> interlocutors. A company which has good
reputation is represented by a management which can provide complete information to stakeholders
(Freeman 1984).
Reputation is a resource that forms in time and identifies business system as well as its interlocutors,
which can interpreter and judge incentives, spurs, behaviours coming from companies.
Therefore, reputation can be considered <strong>the</strong> sum <strong>of</strong> all <strong>the</strong> characteristics <strong>of</strong> a company: products,
brand, personnel, management, technical knowledge, etc. Companies convey <strong>the</strong>ir image and build
<strong>the</strong>ir own reputation.
Fiduciary assets are relational links that make businesses’ relationships more or less stable.
Trust is one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> strategic factor <strong>of</strong> relational capital success. It guarantees long term relations with
all <strong>the</strong> interlocutors that companies have.
Stable, long term relations make trust a company’s resource. It is based on two important elements:
communicative processes
business knowledge (Trequattrini 2008, Vicari 1991).
Trust improvement is, from companies’ point <strong>of</strong> view, <strong>the</strong> accumulation <strong>of</strong> immaterial resources
(Castaldo 2002), even though - referring to <strong>the</strong> relationships with <strong>the</strong> external environment - it
represents creation <strong>of</strong> value.
6. Conclusions
In <strong>the</strong> current stage <strong>of</strong> knowledge economy, this essay tries to emphasise <strong>the</strong> role relational capital
plays, from its definition to <strong>the</strong> identification <strong>of</strong> strategic success elements that support and streng<strong>the</strong>n
it in <strong>the</strong> long term.
The whole <strong>of</strong> relationships that companies have with <strong>the</strong>ir stakeholders – <strong>the</strong>ir partner companies – is
a key resource, on <strong>the</strong> one hand for business survival, on <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>r hand when you have to design,
share, develop and transfer new knowledge, which creates significant competitive differential.
The synergies which support business relationships, make trust, image and reputation derive from <strong>the</strong>
sharing <strong>of</strong> strategic relational values.
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