by Tatiana Casaca
For Alejandro Pávez, knowledge is perception and cognition of the message by the subject around the object. Knowledge is born as a result of the conscious preparation of information. It is a broader concept rather than information, and to obtain it one must ponder, evaluate and relate to the information. This allows us to make predictions, make decisions, and take action.
Companies today are immersed in a new dynamic, which requires them to adapt to continuous changes and find a way that allows them to be more productive and competitive. Employees also play their role in developing key skills and abilities that integrate knowledge of technologies and information systems to support the activities of the businesses they work for.
People's habits, information technologies, new ways of accessing information and organizing jobs, new ways of accessing basic services (public administration, education, etc.), new software products that are born in the market, these are the big ones that drive dynamic changes within companies and organizations.
Why should a company or organization rely on knowledge to generate savings? Because competition is increasing, customers demand more that services and products adapt to their needs, because the life cycle of products is increasingly reduced. For a company or organization to be able to compete within its sector, it must seek to differentiate elements that allow it to acquire a competitive advantage. That’s why it’s essential that knowledge should be generated and acquired.
Generated knowledge is what is generated within companies (individually, in groups) among employees). This knowledge is usually the objective of businesses and organizations, since it has great value and on many occasions it can be strategic to achieve the objectives of the company or organization. Acquired knowledge is related to the organization's activities, however, it has been produced externally. This means that all companies and organizations operating in the same sector can have the same accessibility regarding this knowledge. For this reason, the knowledge acquired usually has less strategic value than the knowledge generated, since the latter is what gives the company the differentiating elements that generate competitive advantage. Every organization has two types of assets: tangible and intangible. Tangibles are all those that can be directly measured in annual balance sheets, intangibles are summarized in intellectual capital, divided into:
• Human capital (knowledge of people, their experiences, capabilities, attitudes within the organization)
• Structural capital (information / functioning systems, databases, operating manuals, information systems, etc.
• Market capital (customers, suppliers, users, beneficiaries, strategic agreements and alliances, market, surrounding needs, etc.)
It is concluded that the differentiating elements that allow a business to create a competitive advantage are the intangible resources. This means that the intangible resources provide value to the organizations. The value is based on the increase of the financial resources through the activity of the company / organization and that usually is through the sale of products and / or services.
Tatiana Casaca is the co-founder of IMO NExT in Angola, a business which helps people find their dream property. Identifying a collective need in Angola’s property market to make finding the perfect house or apartment as hassle free as possible, was the inspiration for Tatiana and her co-founders to create IMO NExT. The company has developed the country’s first app to help streamline the property finding process. Facebook