The legal protection of Structural Capital

Abstract

Summary / Abstract Intellectual Capital In the last decade, when entering the knowledge-era, new issues have been central in the busi-ness management. One of the most important issues is the personnel and the competence they can give to the firm. The relations between the firm, its employees and other external factors are described in the theory of Intellectual Capital (IC). By investigating a firm's IC the management may gain a better understanding of these relations. When the management understands this better, they will also be more skilful in governing the IC. In this thesis the main focus is upon the Structural Capital (SC). It is the part of IC which gives the firm an infrastructure for its value generating business. In literature there are different opinions whether the SC is essential or if it is only of minor importance. My conclusion is that it is central for the firm's value generating, because firstly it gives the other parts of IC support, and secondly it is more suited to protect, and can therefore give the firm stability. Protection of Structural Capital The second part of the thesis is about how to protect the firm's SC. It is to some extent the part of the firm's IC which may be legally protected. The possibility of protection has been well known in the past concerning the firm's IPR, but looking at the SC and the possible legal tools as an entity has not been made before. The SC can be divided into four different parts: 1. the IPR and other intangible assets 2. Results from R&D 3. The firm's agreements 4. The existing production and process flow in the firm To protect these parts there are three specifically suitable legal tools. 1. Different sorts of IPR:s 2. The contract 3. Trade secrecy regulations By combining the different parts of SC to the fitting legal tool the firm may gain protection and therefore also competitive advantages against its competitors. In the thesis I have tried to describe different relations between the legal structure and the exis-ting business situation many firms face today. By using the legal tools together, firms may achi-eve a good protection for the business infrastructure, i e the SC. It can also discover shortages in the protection by looking at different threats against its SC. Therefore the protection of SC is im-portant for the firm and will be an important role for the firm's legal department together with the management. The last important discovery I found working with the thesis was the interaction between the SC and the legal tools. It is not only the legal tools that give the SC its protection, but instead it is the combination of the two that brings the firm strength and protection.