The Management of knowledge resources within private organisations: some European "better practice" illustrations

National economies have rapidly moved from their industrial economic base and shifted towards a knowledge base, in which wealth creation is associated with the ability to develop and manage knowledge resources (KR)(see, among others, MER/TUM, 2002; EC, 2006). Several national and international institutions have produced various Intellectual Capital (IC) frameworks and guidelines (e.g. MER/TUM, 2002; SKE, 2007; EC, 2006) to guide in the management, measurement and reporting of IC. However, there appear to be few studies of private company practices (Guthrie & Ricceri, 2009). The above informed the following two research questions of our study: (1) In what ways, did the private companies express their strategy and the role of KR within it? (2) What tools, including 'inscription devices', were used for understanding and managing KR within a specific organisation? This chapter answers these questions by providing illustrations of KR and their management in practice in a variety of private companies.