The Influence of Intellectual Capital on the Types of Innovative Research Paper

The Influence of Intellectual Capital on the Types of Innovative Capabilities - Research Paper Example Such a project will provide insights to organizations on how different knowledge management strategies create opportunities for organizations to achieve innovations through the use of intellectual capital (Boer and During, 2001, p. 102). Particular emphasis will be on how strategies on human resource management influence a firm’s level of innovation.   Innovation refers to changes in organizational processes or existing products aimed at creating a competitive advantage in the market. Basically, it involves the identification of opportunities and utilizing them with the intention of creating new products, services or work processes (Daft and Weick, 2004, p. 450). Research studies indicate that organizations with higher innovative capabilities have higher chances of succeeding in response to changes in their business environment. There are different forms of innovation but the most common forms include organizational innovation, process innovation and product innovation (Subr amaniam and Youndt, 2005, p. 460). Organizational innovation refers to the development of new structures and management practices. Product innovation relates to the development of new products whereas process innovation involves the development of new technologies used in the production process. The various forms of innovations have different definitions but they all have a common theme. Their common theme is that of the use of knowledge to create competitive advantages by meeting the needs of customers. The fact that innovation involves the identification and utilization of opportunities, it means that there is a continuous process of pursuing new and unique knowledge (Subramaniam and Youndt, 2005, p. 455). Literature materials on the topic of innovation emphasize that knowledge is the most important element that can ensure the success of organizations pin developing new products, technologies, and processes. The main source of innovation is attributed to be the unique knowledge po ssessed by human capital (Daft and Weick, 2004, p. 244). Human capital is also recognized as the main driver of change within the business environment. In the study of the process of innovation, numerous research studies indicate that there is a close link between the management of knowledge and people and innovation. According to Boer and During (2001, p. 122), there exist a lot of research studies that focus on the contribution of organizational knowledge on various forms of innovation. However, most of the research studies only focus on the outcomes of generic innovations such as technology patents and sales revenues from new products. Such studies tend to ignore on studying how knowledge management is connected to innovation. A number of researchers address the topic of innovation in radical and incremental terms. This, therefore, implies that there need to be further research studies on incremental and radical innovations (Subramaniam and Youndt, 2005, p. 453). This is to ensur e there are adequate literature materials on the differences that exist between radical and incremental innovations.