Knowledge as an Inhibitor to Competition in Defence Acquisition
Abstract
The rise of the neoliberal agenda founded on neoclassical economic assumptions over the past thirty years has had a profound influence on the framework used to develop and assess policy effectiveness across all arms of government including defence. As a result the evaluation methods within this framework have tended to been dominated by economic metrics. The weakness associated with using these metrics is that they are poor at measuring intangible assets such as trusted based relations, culture, social networks and knowledge. All of these important intangible assets have a very large impact on competiveness. It is widely agreed that intangible assets play a major role in determining the competitive nature of firms and therefore markets. There are as yet no agreed methodologies or standards by which to evaluate these types of assets. As a result Defence organisations struggle to effectively analyze the impact of these types of assets in their assessment of competitive bids. This paper explores one specific intangible asset ?knowledge? and the role it plays in respect to competition. Knowledge is seen as the most relevant intangible asset to explore given the widely reported and generally accepted view that the world is moving from an industrial to a knowledge economy. The trend to outsource ever more knowledge creation activities which were previously carried out within defence and its impact on competitive markets is yet not well understood. This paper identifies key issues associated with knowledge in respect to how it impacts upon competitiveness in defence markets. It concludes with suggestion on how to overcome present limitations associated with the various forms of knowledge in order to improve the effectiveness of defence acquisition.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA579713
Entities
People
- Kevin S Burgess
Organizations
- Cranfield University