Large Firms’ Knowledge Capital and Innovation Networks

Abstract

This conceptual paper deals with the innovation capabilities of firms. To study these capabilities, we use the concept of knowledge capital (KC) that has been built through the evolution of the economic thinking in relation to three main concepts: knowledge, firm, and capital. We also compare the concept of KC with other currents concepts used to study firm’s innovation capabilities like intellectual-based capital, absorptive capacity, and open innovation. The KC, shortly defined as the set of scientific and technical knowledge and information produced, acquired, combined, and systematized by one or several firms for productive and valorization purposes, appears to be a useful analytical tool to study current issues related to innovation, notably the nature of innovation networks and the new roles of Intellectual Property Rights in the management of innovation processes.