Capital, Systems, and Objects (eBook) von Richard Thomas Watson

Chapter 1: A Capital Idea.- Chapter 2: The Organization as a Capital Creation System.- Chapter 3: The Growth of the Capital Creation System.- Chapter 4: Systems for Creating Capital.- Chapter 5: Energy for Capital Creation.- Chapter 6: Objects.- Chapter 7: The Future.- Section 2: Capital Creation Mechanisms.- Chapter 8: Economic Capital.- Chapter 9: Human Capital.- Chapter 10: Organizational Capital.- Chapter 11: Natural Capital.- Chapter 12: Social Capital.- Chapter 13: Symbolic Capital.- Section 3: Capital and Systems Measurement.- Chapter 14: The Measurement of Capital.- Chapter 15: The Measurement of Systems.

This book provides a set of integrated frameworkscapital, systems, and objectsthat transcend managerial or technology hype by focusing on the long-term fundamentals that sustain organizational success. Many organizations are currently addressing two important transformational issues: ecological sustainability and digitization. Sustainability is a goal, an end, and digitization is a process, a means to achieve a goal. This book introduces a flexible model that can be applied to current and future organizational challenges, including sustainability and digitization, because the fundamentals are constant.

This book is designed to serve two purposes for the readers: first, to present three conceptual foundations for designing and operating organizations (capital, systems, and objects in Part I); and second, to provide a reference source for implementing these ideas in an organization (Parts II and III). The Part I of the book, chapters 1 through 7, sets forth the conceptual foundations. The chapters mix concepts and practical examples to give a new way of thinking about the setting in which one may work many days each year. The Part II provides details and associated examples of every one of the thirty-six forms of capital conversion. It also illustrates how the five foundational systems support capital conversion in a variety of ways. Finally, the Part III is about measuring capital and systems.

The book will resonate with practitioners and students of strategy, leadership, and organizational design. It is critical reading for leaders, industry experts, and general readers who want to understand how over thousands of years the capital creation system has developed todays world and will fashion its future.

Richard Watson is a Regents Professor and the J. Rex Fuqua Distinguished Chair for Internet Strategy in the Terry College of Business at the University of Georgia. In 2011, he received the Association for Information Systems' LEO award for exceptional lifetime achievement in Information Systems. The University of Liechtenstein has established with government support a Consortium for Digital Capital Creation based on the ideas in this book.