Intellectual capital can be a major factor that can aid Caribbean policy makers as the region transitions from its agricultural based economy to service based economies with tourism being the largest contributor to GDP. This paper adds to the extant literature by providing literature on IC within the Caribbean and the tourism industry. Additionally, while the research has emphasized defining and measuring IC and its components, and their impact on firm’s performance theoretical questions remain concerning the synergistic, dynamic and contextual nature of IC. In addition, the use of sensemaking to provide the foundation for understanding the interaction of the IC components and firm’s performance will further enhance the IC literature. This paper reports on the development and testing of a theoretical model concerning the mediating effects of measurement of IC and sensemaking on the components of IC and performance linkage. This quantitative study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the model and structural relationships among the components of IC and performance mediated by sensemaking and measurement of IC. Independent variables used in the model were HC, RC and SC; with sensemaking and measurement of IC being the mediating variables and performance, a composite scale measuring managers’ perception on relative changes of their performance of financial and non‑financial measures, being the dependent variable. The study shows that HC, RC and SC are related to sensemaking, that measurement of IC is associated with performance, that measurement of IC mediates the relationships between RC and performance and SC and performance, and it validates the relationship between HC and performance.

Abstract: Research into knowledge sharing has predominantly utilised qualitative research methods. The quantitative research methods that built models focused upon a narrow grouping of factors. This research sought to develop a holistic model of the predi ctors of knowledge sharing, with expertise factors added, to qualify the value of the expertise being shared. An extensive literature review and individual / series of interviews were carried out to identify the knowledge sharing factors, of which 18 were recognised. The value of knowledge shared is dependent on the expertise of the individual, and two expertise orientated factors were developed. These two factors were based upon two self‑assessment constructs, a Cochran‑Weiss‑Shanteau measure, and a peer ‑comparison measure, both of which were used to identify an individuals the level of expertise. Using these factors a model was developed that, enabled individual self‑assessment of knowledge sharing and expertise latent variables. 103 participants compl eted the survey, and the results were analysed using structured equation modelling (SEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The model did not achieve a goodness of fit. There were 6 factors that were significantly related to the intention to shar e knowledge construct, with both expertise factors found to be significantly related to an expertise construct. The intention to share knowledge construct was significantly related to the expertise construct. This model has been used to identify 4 types o f knowledge sharers. These types offer significant practical benefit for human resource activities, specifically in recruitment and organisational design.

This paper describes a Process Framework for an Interoperable Semantic Enterprise Environment (PF‑ISEE) for conceptualising knowledge by coupling business process activities and the Knowledge Transfer Cycle. The PF‑ISEE is triggered by an activity and starts the Knowledge Transfer Cycle. The Knowledge Transfer Cycle provides six core concepts with methods, tools and templates to create, manipulate, store and retrieve information. Within the Knowledge Transfer Cycle, special methods are applied in the context of knowledge intensive business process activities with a rep‑ resentation model that can be a global, role depended or an application inherited concept representation. The paper in‑ troduces the main advantages and challenges of each core concept and explains its position in the Knowledge Transfer Cycle. Furthermore, it is shown how the PF‑ISEE can be part of an Enterprise Semantic Web in order to integrate se‑ mantic tools and technologies in standard enterprise applications.

The search tools and information retrieval systems on the contemporary Web use keywords, lexical analysis, popularity, and statistical methods to find and prioritise relevant data to a specific query. In recent years, Semantic web has introduced new approaches to specify Web data using machine‑interpretable structures. This has led to the establishment of new frameworks for search engines and information systems based on discovering complex and meaningful relationships between information resources. In this paper we discuss a semantic supported information search and retrieval system to answer users' information queries. The paper focuses on knowledge discovery aspects of the system and in particular analysis of semantic associations. The information resources are multimedia data, which could be retrieved from heterogeneous resources. The main goal is to provide a hypermedia presentation, which narratively conveys relevant information to the queried term. The structure describes the related entities to the queried topic and a ranking mechanism assigns weights to the entities. The assigned weights express the degree of relevancy of each related entity in the presentation structure.

The major bottlenecks in expert system development lie within the processes of eliciting and representing knowledge. Knowledge representation schemes combine data structures, and interpretative procedures that enable the extraction of the knowledge embedded in the data structures. A broad spectrum of knowledge types need to be represented, but available representation techniques are not optimum systems since they vary in level of expressiveness and power. Knowledge demands more than the conventional representation structures used for databases and information. This is because information is derived from processing, refining and analysing raw data. The extra refinement, analysis and addition of heuristics to information converts it to knowledge. This paper discusses the major issues in the quest for an efficient knowledge representation technique and assesses the performance and level of usefulness of some of the most successful approaches in knowledge representation.

Call centres, or their contemporary successors contact centres, are the preferred and prevalent way for many companies to communicate with their customers, but perhaps the greatest challenge of running a call centre, is to ensure that customers are provided with the right information in a timely fashion. Knowledge management has a number of practical tools and strategies to meet this challenge but to leverage the potential of these tools organisations must understand how to implement knowledge management especially in their call centre department. This research paper focuses on five main roles of knowledge management namely; knowledge acquisition, utilisation, adaptation, dissemination and generation, while knowledge management is achieved by identifying and managing these roles efficiently in an organisation. The primary data comprises interviews with managers of the call centre department of two largest car makers in Iran. Using case study approach, this research tries to describe and illustrate how participating companies are managing their organisational knowledge in their call centres, which items are supported under their supervision and which items have not been covered.

It is unanimously agreed that a business communication curriculum plays an important role in preparing students for the workforce in the corporate (Pittenger, Khushwant K. S.; Miller, Mary C. & Allison, Jesse, 2006; Zhao, Jensen J. & Alexander, Melody W., 2004). However, Student population in India undertaking a program in business management primarily comprises those for whom English is a second language. In this scenario, it becomes extremely important to analyze how the faculty teaching business management students perceive the course of business communication and students' possession of business communication skills (Plutsky, Susan & Wilson, Barbara A., 1996). In this connection, very little work has been done on the perceptions of faculty teaching business management students in India. What are the areas of business communication curriculum which faculty perceives as important? What are those areas of business communication in which faculty feel students are more competent? Should something be added to the curriculum to make it more effective? This study enters this discussion by presenting a small empirical study of a faculty's perception of the business communication needs of students. A sample of 93 faculty members, teaching with AICTE accredited management institutions in India have expressed their opinion on the said issue by way of questionnaires. The ultimate goal is to reorient the curriculum of business communication according to the findings of the present study.

: A main purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of intellectual capital and intellectual capital complementarity on a firm’s global initiatives. Sample was selected with a type of purposive sampling. The selection criteria were that companies had to locate in Taiwan, but competing globally. Altogether 324 firms took part in the study. Structural Equation Modelling technique was used in the data analysis. Based on the analyses results, some implications are provided. Firstly, the importance of intellectual capital is again highlighted. It is confirmed that intellectual capital does enhance a firm’s global initiatives. Secondly, some moderating effects of business environment are found between intellectual capital and global initiatives. Thirdly, the important role of intellectual capital complementarity is identified. It is found that intellectual capital complementarity has positive effect on global initiatives in both high dynamic and low dynamic contexts. As a result, the value of intellectual capital components can mostly be actualized only in terms of their dynamic interrelationships and conjoint interaction.