In-company Corporate Universities are an extremely powerful business object to promote growth and measurable monetary results.

Originally, they were derived from academic and training activities providing know-how to the members of organizations. But some differentiated technological companies began to use them also to expand their businesses. Thus Corporate Universities began to work as business objects.

The Unicist Research Institute developed Corporate Universities as business objects, integrating the three objects that define their functionality:
1)    The driving object for know-how transfer
2)    The catalyzing object to accelerate actions in the market
3)    The gravitational object to structure authoritative differentiation in the market

Driving objects: Empirical approach

The driving Corporate Universities need to transfer empiric know-how to their participants.

Empirical knowledge is the core of this activity and analogous benchmarking is the natural approach to unknown operational practices.

They need to be developed in operational/analytical language in order to deal with the business operation.

Catalyzing objects: Systemic approach

The catalyzing Corporate Universities have to transfer knowledge on the technologies that sustain operational know-how.

Systemic knowledge is the core of catalyzing CU and the use of homologous (conceptual) benchmarking allows integrating unknown technologies in a new field of action.

They need to be developed in analytical/scientific language in order to deal with the innovative technology that is behind the operation.

Gravitational objects: Ontological approach

The gravitational Corporate Universities are built to provide essential knowledge to deal with the business.

They need to provide this knowledge in a way that the concepts dealt with become obvious and self-evident for the mass. They do not use benchmarks but metaphors to approach unknown fields.

They need to be developed in conceptual language in order to deal with the nature that underlies the business.

The lack of know-how defines the need for the driving function. This function becomes unnecessary as soon as the know-how has been acquired.

It has to be considered that innovation sustains the use of social catalysts and catalyzing objects. The catalyzing effect disappears when an innovation has been adopted by the environment. Therefore, catalysts need to be replaced when they are “worn out”.

Gravitational objects are stable because the essential aspects of businesses imply an endless discovering process.

Power and knowledge have an extremely conflictive relationship. That is why Corporate Universities are contraindicated for power centered businesses.

We want to remark that In-Company Corporate Universities designed as Business Objects have to be learning and not teaching centered.

(Based on the research on In-company Corporate Universities)

Access or request a Unicist Tweetinar on this subject at:
http://www.academic.unicist.org/unicist_tweetinars.shtml

Learn more about the trend of ontology based solutions for businesses:
http://www.unicist.net/obs.shtml

Diana Belohlavek
VP Global Markets
& Market Labs

NOTE: The Unicist Research Institute is the major research organization in the world in its specialty based on more than 3,500 ontological researches in complexity sciences, developed since 1976 until September 2010, applied to individual, institutional and social evolution. The applicative researches are based on the discovery of the Ontogenetic Intelligence of Nature and the consequent Unicist Ontology of Evolution.