Knowledge-based View (KBV) of the Firm

The essential elements of the KBV can be summarized as follows:

• Knowledge is the most important resource and factor of production.
• Performance differences between firms exist because of differences in firms’ stock of knowledge and capabilities in using and developing knowledge.
• Organizations exist to create, transfer, and transform knowledge into competitive advantage.
• Knowledge is related to humans.
• Individuals are intentional and intelligent agents.
• Humans are bounded by cognitive limitations; how much and what they can know have cognitive limits, and therefore they have to specialize.
• Especially in complex issues which cannot be understood by any single individual, there is a need for integration and coordination of knowledge.
• Cognition and action are related: knowledge is both acquired by and demonstrated in action.
• Knowledge is demonstrated in many forms and located on many levels: it is situated in the minds and bodies of individuals, embedded in organizational routines and processes, as well as codified in databases and books etc.
• Some knowledge can be externalized into explicit form, while some knowledge will always remain tacit.
• The form of knowledge influences how it can be leveraged and transferred. 
• Shared tacit knowledge, demonstrated for example in capabilities, is the most important type of knowledge from the value creation point of view.
• Knowledge cannot be fully managed in the same sense as other types of resources; its management more resembles the creation of suitable contexts and cultivation.
• Knowledge is dynamic: it is continuously re-interpreted and modified, and related to learning and change. 

Blomqvist, Kirsimarja and Kianto, Aino. (2015).  Knowledge-based View of the Firm - Theoretical Notions and Implications for Management. Retrieved on February 1, 2017 from http://www.lut.fi/documents/10633/109602/tijo-valintakoeartikkeli-2015.pdf