Understanding the Importance of Measuring Knowledge in Strategic Thinking

This essay discusses the importance of measuring knowledge in strategic thinking and its impact on organizational success. It explores how Anakle, a digital company, utilizes knowledge management, communities of practice, and performance measurement to achieve competitive advantage. The essay also highlights the challenges faced in measuring knowledge and the role of intellectual capital and social networks in organizational growth.

SUMMITIVE ESSAY
Before we Measure something we must ask whether we
understand what is we are trying to measure

Introduction
Strategies are the core part of the success and the inherited part of any action which desires
some specific and desired results. Strategic thinking or the system of strategic thinking needs
to be backed up through the firm and supportive strategic knowledge. Information and
knowledge are the two main ingredients or the tripod on which the base of strategies stands
and depends. As has been stated by Hislop et al. (2018), that in order to understand what
exactly we are trying to understand or measure demands some strategic thinking. The
position and the place of knowledge system concerning the business system design as well as
the strategic system thinking needs to be explored and every perspective of both the criteria
needs to be assessed. The setting of an organisation demands some strategic thinking which
would be done through acknowledging the strategic thinking design and the system of the
same (Donate and Pablo, 2015). Anakle would be the focus for exploring the strategic
thinking system and the steps or the considerations that has been taken by the concerned
organisation would help in presenting the findings or the need of understanding what we are
trying to measure even before we measure it. As per Webb (2017), this would be done
through presenting the interaction among the various factors or elements such as the
knowledge management, challenge of performance measurement, communities of practice
and intellectual capital and social networks. The interactions exploration would provide with
the hybrid strategy which has been or could be utilised by Anakle in order to create or
develop competitive advantage, sustainability scenario and the edge of competition would be
understood.
Considering the scientific perspective, it has been rightly stated by Albert Einstein that
maximum of the values do not carry the capability of being measured, and measurement
takes a person towards estimation and approximation where no exact value could be attend.
This has been favoured by Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle which conveys that as one tries
to measure a variable with high accuracy, the more distant he gets from the exact value. As
per Barley et al. (2018), these facts stated by the scientists reveals that in the business
organisations, the value which has are hidden might be carrying some values which needs to
explored and accessed primarily and it should be done in great depth as this would help in
understanding what exactly it is, that is being tried to be measured.
Analysis
As stated by Nonaka and Toyama (2015), that the current generation and the business
situation is completely dependent on the knowledge base and this brings in the need and the

requirement of aspiring the knowledge base of the organisation which has been rightly
explored and utilised by Anakle. Anakle is a company which provides media solutions on
internet and mobile platforms and thus it reveals that the company has rightly taken up the
idea of the current knowledge of technology and has utilised it in developing the business.
The company has been known for providing online advertisement services, campaigns and
also provides help to the online developing advertising applications which gets utilised by a
wide range of users. It has been observed by Omotayo (2015), that the new companies has
been using the Knowledge Base View (KBV), in order to accelerate and expand the
organisations s has been done by Anakle Group. The exploration concentrates not on
measuring the knowledge accurately as it is not possible because knowledge is abstract but
the main focus is on to substantiate the hidden or the intrinsic value of knowledge and the
role that is has played in Anakle survival and growth.
Knowledge Management/Environment
As stated by Liebowitz and Frank (2016), knowledge is the creator of strategy and strategies
could be defined as the channel or the path on which the organisation walks in order to attain
long term and sustaining success or growth. The strategies taken by the business
organisations helps it in attaining the competitive and other advantages, resource
configurations, attaining the expectations of the market and its customers, and satisfying its
stakeholders through every means. These achievements of Anakle has been done through
rightly utilising the knowledge of its employees and the knowledge crafted by the employers.
Anakle has been a digital company which serves the online advertisement services to various
other companies such as Adidas, GTbank, and other companies. Strategy could also be
presented as the ingredient or the requirement for attaining the organisations goals and
objectives through social activity, or anywhere where people are involved. Van Den Berg has
been the person who has added knowledge as a factor of production in an organisation and
states that knowledge is the yardstick which helps in achieving business development and
growth along with competitive advantage. It has been mentioned by him that “knowledge
may help managers to determine the most economic combination of knowledge to use in
Production; transfer knowledge more effectively within and across organisation boundaries”.
These views has been supported by Drucker and Arrow who states that knowledge should be
used as a factor of production. Acknowledging the views and thoughts of Herbert A. Simon,
it has been revealed that he believes that knowledge plays an indispensable role in economic
processes and any failure in measuring the knowledge carries a sinister impact on the

organisations. As marked by Grover and Froese (2016), management of knowledge is one of
the crucial and the most essential action in an organisation and concerning Anakle, it has
been revealed that it has been utilising its knowledge exceptionally well through periodical
interaction among the employees and the employers which provided them with the scenario
of acknowledging each other and thus, the requirements has been fulfilled on both the ends.
Rastogi favours intertwining of nexus of social capital, human capital and knowledge
management. He also states that knowledge management nexus (KMN), is the base and the
creator of business system design.
Figure 1: Knowledge Management Nexus
(Source: Inkinen, 2016)
The most vital and the most important part of knowledge management is the calculation of
the cost of the organisation which reflects the expenses that the organisation would be
incurring in the execution of the plan or the strategy. This inaccuracy in this act leads to
severe and crucial circumstances. The management of knowledge could be reflected through
this act of the organisation and thus, in order to attain maximum profits the cost has to be
minimised. This require knowledge and the accurate utilisation and allocation of resources
both human and materialistic. As stated by Todorović et al. (2015), that the failure in the
calculation of costs and the value of knowledge would lead to the conclusion that the
organisation has been competing with the obsolete strategies and thus the failure of
knowledge management would foster. In the words of Khalique et al. (2015), knowledge is a
strategic asset.

Communities of Practice/Interest
Communities of Practice (CoPs) literally means the practices that the communities or the
group of people takes upon in order to learn something new or expand their body of
knowledge. In the words of Etienne Wenger the community of practice could be defined as a
group of people who are carrying same concern or a passion for every action they perform
along with it an attitude of improvising and enhancing their actions on a regular basis.
According to Cuozzo et al. (2017), this attitude once developed in a person could provide
immense and broad output to the organisations and any business. Collective learning is the
best learning and this also helps in channelizing the path of learning towards improvisation
and thus, the consequences are always productive and positive. Anakle has been one of the
organisations’ which has been accustomed with the employees and people who carry the
attitude of enhancing and learning through actions and their practices which has been
favouring the growth and the success of the company. The gradual growth which the
concerned company has witnessed has been the consequence of the existence of positive
practices. There exist community of practices and interest and this interest of its employees
towards learning and improvement has been the actual reason for its growth. It also replicates
that the people of the organisation has been understanding what they are actually measuring
and thus, this has helped them in channelizing their path through various means. As per
Dženopoljac et al. (2016), the aim or the motive of Community of practices is that to bring in
an alignment in the ideas of the people who carry the same interest and thus favouring the
improvement in their practices. Within an organisation the improvement in the community of
practices would help in improvising the technical known how along with the base of
knowledge developing more strong through increasing the flow of knowledge and the flow of
practice of knowledge.
Lave and Wenger has been known for their situated theory and has provided a learning table
which could be utilised by the organisations in order to accelerate the community of practices
and thus enjoying the benefits of it. They proposed a cognitive model and a new model which
could be presented as follows
Cognitive Model (Old Model) Constructivism, Situativism Model (New
Model)
Teach Learn
In Classrooms In Situ
Through Teaching Through Observing in the Social Gatherings

and other places
Through participating
Learning Individually through teachers Learning in a group where all are learners
Planned into activities and other
curriculums
Unplanned, mostly driven by the activities
and the tasks performed in the formal
apprenticeship (Ozkan et al. 2017).
Definition of learning is technical that is a
mechanistic, cerebral process of
transmission of ideas and thoughts
Learning is define in general as the act of
observation depending on the human’s
capability and perception and the passion to
learn plays a vital role.
Table 1: New and Old model of learning by Lave and Wenger
(Source: Chiucchi and Dumay, 2015)
The domain or the area of similarity in communities is the domain of practice and this is the
connection or the base of the communities of practices. It includes those who have an urge of
learning through practicing and thus this frames up their community. As per Obeidat et al.
(2017), these communities could inspire people and bring on a change in the living and the
thought process of the different communities. This could be beneficial within an organisation
as it helps in adding on productivity and output to the company.
The Challenge of Performance Measurement
Knowledge Process Information’s (KPI), helps in measuring the accuracy and the extent of
the wellbeing of the company or the individuals as compared to the strategic goals and
objectives. The measurement of the performance is an essential as well a crucial part and it
requires some accurate and specific measures to be taken. Anakle has been one such
organisation which has faced number of challenges in executing the measurement of
knowledge though the company carried huge number of knowledgeable and strategic
thinkers. As per Dumay and Guthrie (2017), the application of properly designed KPIs and
accurate implementation provides with important navigational instruments which helps in
understanding the current levels of performance. The understanding of the KPIs is a vital part
on the organisations behalf as this helps in taking up the best instrument which would suit the
organisational knowledge pattern and thus help it in enhancing and adding on to its
knowledge through channelizing its path. Anakle has been one of the digitalising companies
and its services needs to be enhanced on a regular basis due to the up gradation of the
technologies and thus, this brings in the application of KPIs in the most efficient manner.

This would help the organisation in being updated and thus, developing its business at large.
The challenges that could be faced by an organisation in the use of KPIs could be listed as
follows which has been observed in the concerned organization as well.
Problems Likely Consequences
Setting targets and utilised as control
mechanisms by company
Setting targets in place of motivating the
employees through reminding them about
the goals and objectives of the organisation
mislead the employees and the focus from
the goals and objectives gets shifted to the
targets which leads to low morale and fear
in the employees.
Highly challenging Targets Setting highly challenging targets could lead
to data manipulation because of high
pressure. The internal competition would
transform into an unhealthy one which
would impact the organisation environment
and thus the productivity would be
impacted. It can also lead to unethical
behaviours which may impact other
employees and thus, the entire organisation
would have to suffer for it.
Concentration of efforts in order to achieve
the targets within specific time also known
as Storming
The targets would be achieved but it might
lead to an abrupt situation and the targets
achieved may be unsustainable and the
performance would be of low quality. The
processes utilised for achieving the targets
might be damaged.
The increased targets would lead to Ratchet
effect
The target might be achieved but beyond
that nothing could be achieved The
utilisation of the knowledge of the
employees remains underutilised. This may
lead to loss of high performers.
Threshold Effect which may arise due to The target might be achieved but beyond

uniform output targets that nothing could be achieved The
utilisation of the knowledge of the
employees remains underutilised. This may
lead to loss of high performers.
Table 2: Challenges and its Impact
(Source: Inkinen, 2015)
The challenges identified in the organisation due to lack of improper knowledge management
needs to be understood and some proper planning needs to be done for mitigating its impact.
Intellectual Capital and Social Networks
Lights has been showered by Ozkan et al. (2017), on the concept of tangible and intangible
assets and its importance as resources in the aspect of determining the true and the actual
value of the organisations. Initially it was just the tangible assets which were focused on for
the calculation of value of the organisation and thus it was a narrow concept which has been
broadened through including the intangible assets in the valuation. The intangible asset or the
intellectual capital that is the knowledge that is present within an organisation, could not be
seen or presented in front of anyone but it d exists and that could be observed in the
productivity and the strategies that the organisation uses in its working. Though there do not
exist any monetary value of the intellectual capital, the presence of it could be assessed
through the success and the growth of the organisation. According to Khalique et al. (2015),
the driving force in Anakle has been the Intellectual capital which has helped in innovating
new and different services to its clients and the management of the organisation has also been
done through it. The strategies which were taken by the organisation concerning the market
expectation match, competitive advantage and others has all been through the accurate use of
the intellectual capital of the organisation. Traditionally the attention has not been
concentrated in this segment of the organisation which has led to the miss management of the
organisation through various means and thus, the consequences has been hazardous. The
intellectual capital needs to be assessed and checked by the organisation at regular intervals
in order to sustain the achievements the organisation has made and the future planning could
be done in a more accurate manner.
The professionalism that the employees carry and the way they deal with their colleagues
reflects the intellectual capital present in the organisation. The relation between the employer
and the employee also plays a vital role and it also replicates the valuable intellectual capital

or the intangible asset present in the organisation. In the words of Dženopoljac et al. (2016),
“Structural capital is the embodiment, the empowerment, and the supportive infrastructure of
human capital as stated by Edvinsson and Malone in 1997. There are various tools available
for the measurement of the performance of the organisation which reflects the intangible
asset capability. The tools includes the Quality Improvement System, Performance
Management System, etc. The framework and the application of these systems also implies
that the intangible asset of the organisation is accurately present as the strategy to utilise these
systems is in itself a commendable choice made by the organisation.
Conclusion
The exploration of the strategic thinking and the requirement and the need for it in the
working of the organisation has provided with a vast and a broad knowledge. The application
of knowledge in the strategic applications and the requirement of understanding what exactly
we are trying to measure has been understood thoroughly through the understanding of the
four main ingredients that is the knowledge management, communities of practice,
challenges of performance management and intellectual capital. The exploration of these
ingredients through Anakle has provide with the practical examples and thus the
understanding has been quite impactful. The importance of knowledge and the scientific
reasons behind it has also been explored and understood which revealed that intangible assets
cannot be valued in monetary terms but in intangible terms which could be just experienced
through acknowledging the impacts of its application and the output and products it provides.
The overall writing has provided with immense knowledge on the necessity of understanding
the core of the understanding. It has rightly been said that it is important and necessary
“before we measure something we must ask whether we understand what it is we are
measuring”.

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