Importance of managing intangible assets in enhancing dynamic capabilities of firms: cases from Sweden and Germany

The purpose of this article is to provide insights into our understanding of integrated learning incorporating interactive control systems and diagnostic control systems, through a new integrative learning framework related to management control systems (MCSs). The proposed framework can be used to analyze systematically the knowledge-creating ability of a firm. The study adopts a learning perspective under qualitative research methodology. Data were collected through interviews and analyzed in terms of the proposed integrative learning framework. The study finds that senior managers of large companies in Sweden and Germany consider that management of intangible assets is crucial in enhancing dynamic capabilities related to MCSs and that different companies use different strategies to achieve it. The findings of this study would be useful to other companies that struggle to survive in a highly competitive business environment. Further, the framework developed in this study may be used as a tool to analyze systematically the knowledge-creating ability of a company.