Intellectual Capital in a Seaport Context

• Type: Article in International Conference Proceedings Book
• Date: 2011

Authors

José Vale (Author) FEP; João Ribeiro (Author) FEP; Manuel Castelo Branco (Author) FEP

Conference proceedings International

Title: PROCEEDINGS OF THE 3RD EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL

Pages: 609-612

3rd European Conference on Intellectual Capital

Nicosia, CYPRUS, APR 18-19, 2011

Indexing

ISI Proceedings

ISI Web of Knowledge - 0 Citations

Scientific classification

FOS: Social sciences > Economics and Business

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-002-XHP

Abstract (EN): This poster, which is the result of an ongoing PhD thesis project, illustrates how and why the Intellectual Capital (IC) concept can be applied to a seaport. A seaport can be conceptualized as a cluster composed by organisations interrelated in a complex and specific network system. In a knowledge-based economy, where the competitiveness of an organisation is a consequence of its ability to create IC, the spatial proximity can be an important factor because it facilitates interactions between organisations. Traditionally, literature defends an IC composed by three dimensions: human, structural and relational capital. Also, the interplay between these dimensions is considered an important factor to improve performance and thus competitiveness. As far as the authors are aware, most of the research in IC has been focused on individual firms. Although some recent papers examine macro-level organizations, such as regions, none exist on seaports. In addition, there is a paucity of management sciences' research on to maritime transportation and seaports. Several research questions are thus pertinent attending to the specificity of the context: What are the main IC dimensions in a seaport? How those dimensions relate with each other? How IC, in its different dimensions, is created/destroyed within a seaport? Answers to these questions can have important strategic and managerial implications for the seaport and its stakeholders. We consider a case study methodology as an appropriate approach to answer these questions, given that this methodology is suited for exploratory research and for dealing with situations in which creativity and innovation prevail. Early insights provided not only by the literature review, but also by two informal interviews, suggest that we can find the three "main" dimensions of IC within a seaport context and also two types of relational capital: an "internal" and an "external" one. They also suggest that IC dimensions may be interrelated with each other within a seaport and that relational capital may be the most important dimension in that particular context.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 4