HUMAN CAPITAL DRIVERS AND CORPORATE MANAGEMENT TOOLS IN A TRANSFORMATION CONTEXT

Abstract

This paper examines the mechanisms of human and intellectual capital transformations, as well as their development patterns in a company to ensure its growth and expansion together with building the company competitive edge in the context of knowledge economy. In particular, the study provides insights into the fundamental principles of corporate management, along with revealing the specifics of the interaction between human and intellectual driving factors and economic tools of corporate management. A special focus is put towards a social function of corporate management in resolving socioeconomic conflicts in the area of public production and its critical significance in tackling a vast range of social issues. Based on the findings, the study offers a conceptual and methodological approach to building and implementing strategies for promoting and boosting human capital to respond to modern economic development trends and challenges. Apart from that, the study identified the need to pay more attention to expanding the research in every area of economic thought and re-think the implications of economic policies being currently realized. It is also noted that corporate management systems in different countries demonstrate great variability, in particular, there are significant differences in the area of corporate ownership and control patterns. The paper presents an overview of various types of corporate management systems which can be distinguished by the nature of their ownership and control paradigm, as well as by diversity in terms of shareholder rights. Thus, some management systems are characterized by a wide range of ownership forms while others tend to concentrate ownership rights or control functions as much as possible. A conclusion is made that there is still no single corporate management model in the world, and each country has developed its own range of tools and mechanisms to overcome corporate problems and challenges arising from the ownership dispersal or control issues. It is argued that the transition to a knowledge economy and increasing the human factor involvement in corporate management have become a distinctive feature of modern phase of enterprise management maturity in most developed economies, and the use of intellectual capital and talent management are viewed as a primary tool in ensuring company high efficiency and competitiveness. The findings reveal that the latest approaches to the research problem, transformations in the company capital structure design, with a key focus on the role of intellectual capital as its crucial element, have contributed to radical changes in contemporary industrial relations. Given the growing significance of a company management concept which is considered a system where a human potential is an exceptional driving force in business development, it is concluded that in view of these changes, all outdated methods of the current operational management should be revised and, accordingly, new standards for business activity and performance practices have to be created.