International Journal of Management, Knowledge and Learning, 4(1), 3–5
Guest Editor’s Foreword
Valerij Dermol
International School for Social and Business Studies, Slovenia
In literature, the concept of intellectual capital is present since 1969, when
theAmericaneconomistJamesK.Galbraithintroduceditintheoryandprac-
tice. He envisioned it not as a fixed form of capital but as something in-
tangible, dynamic, as a process of knowledge application, and as a tool for
achieving the companies’ objectives. The components of intellectual capital
include people and their skills, as well as other aspects of knowledge in the
broadestsenseofitsunderstandingintheinternalandexternalstructureof
the company. Intellectual capital management has a significant impact on
both short- and long-term policies of the company as well as synchronous
operation of all its components. However, the concept of intellectual capital
can be also understood wider, within the economy and society. As a com-
ponent of the intellectual capital, social capital stresses the importance of
membership in social networks and management of values, norms, under-
standing and trust to promote social and civic participation and to enhance
the quality of life. On the other hand, human capital, which was introduced
in the economic theory in 1961 by American Nobel laureate Theodore W.
Schultz, emphasizes the issue of education and health systems, lifelong
learning, and cause-effect links with company profitability, labour produc-
tivity and economic performance of countries. The concept of intellectual
capital is closely linked to sustainability, which should be understood as
a phenomenon that increases the quality of human life while living within
the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems. Deriving from that, intellec-
tual capital is also closely linked with sustainable development, which is
the kind of development that meets the needs of the present without com-
promising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Only
knowledge and the appropriate use of knowledge, which by definition is in-
tellectual capital, can provide both – quality of life within the capabilities of
current ecosystems as well as life that does not jeopardize the life of future
generations.
Papers in this special issue of the journal are dealing with a wide range
of topics, related to sustainability and sustainable development, which are
founded on the concept of intellectual capital. The paper ‘Determinants of
Willingness to Pay for an Urban Green Area’ reveals the importance of the
systematic raising of awareness of the importance of maintaining sustain-
able green urban areas for quality of life in cities. The paper ‘Supply Chains
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4 Valerij Dermol
and the Apparel Industry’ underlines the importance of transnational, non-
state driven Initiatives for social sustainability for the improvement of work-
ers’ situation. In its content, the paper entitled ‘The Impact of Exchange
Rate on Poland’s Trade Flows’ is primarily leaning on the content from the
field of economics, which together with the contents from the fields from
ecology, culture and political science forms ‘circles of sustainability,’ an
internationally renowned model for managing projects directed towards so-
ciallysustainableoutcomes. Electronicallyarchived knowledge and the right
to forget and to be forgotten, which is becoming an urgent issue spread
among professional and general public due to widespread use of the Inter-
net, are addressed in the paper ‘Online Right to Be Forgotten and the Euro-
pean Justice Evolution.’ The effects of entrepreneurial capital and renewal
capital, as key components of the intellectual capital, on the performance
of smaller companies are discussed in the paper ‘Entrepreneurial, Renewal
Trust and Capital of Italian Firms.’ The paper ‘The Impact of the Relation-
ships between Buyers and Suppliers Based on Their Financial, Social and
Structural Bonds’ investigates the relationship between the buyers and the
suppliers showing that the firms which share the knowledge on the base of
their non-formal relationships reduce the transaction costs and increase in-
vestment, trust, and performance. With the paper ‘Knowledge Management
for Knowledge Society and Intergenerational Education’ the topics and con-
tents discussed in this issue of the journal are rounded and summarized by
linking concepts of knowledge management, intergenerational learning and
knowledge society.
All published papers have been prepared and submitted within the im-
plementation of the MakeLearn & TIIM 2015 Joint International Conference
thematically entitled Managing Intellectual Capital and Innovation for Sus-
tainable and Inclusive Society. Through MakeLearn (International Scientific
Conference on Management of Knowledge and Learning), organizers are en-
couraging (a) sharing of the most recent developments in the field of knowl-
edge management, (b) discussion and exchanging of knowledge between
the academia and the economy, as well as (c) promotion of the Central and
South-Eastern Europe higher education. Complementary, TIIM (Technology,
Innovation and Industrial Management International Conference) promotes
the exchange, discussion, and dialogue on how to manage industrial oper-
ations and organizations in more innovative, effective, and productive man-
ners. Overall, TIIM conference underlines the roles of technology as well as
integration of human capital and organizational cultures so that possible
adaptations, learning, and improvement of research, practical examples,
and excellent practices can be made.
At this point, it is worth mentioning that the conference participants
submitted 453 papers, of which 308 were accepted for publication in the
International Journal of Management, Knowledge and Learning

Guest Editor’s Foreword 5
conference proceedings or in any of the special issues of the sponsored
journals. MakeLearn as well as TIIM International Conference have set sev-
eral standards in order to achieve a high quality implementation. This in-
cludes following a rigorous selection process for publication in the confer-
ence proceedings or in any of the special issues of sponsored journals. In
addition, all submitted papers are subject to a double-blind review process,
which greatly contributes in the elimination of any perception of bias for or
against an author or institution, country, gender, etc. Furthermore, papers’
evaluation is based on their originality, clarity, methodological standards of
research, significance of their findings, and clarity of exposition. MakeLearn
& TIIM Joint International Conference follows the Publishing Ethics as de-
fined by the ToKnowPress International Academic Publisher.
Finally yet importantly, I would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief of the
International Journal of Management, Knowledge and Learning for the trust
and excellent cooperation in preparation of this special issue.
Dr. Valerij Dermol is currently Vice Dean at the International School for So-
cial and Business Studies. He is involved in courses on entrepreneurship,
HRM and knowledge management, and also in several international and do-
mestic research projects. Besides entrepreneurial learning he focuses his
research on training and its influence on organisational learning and firms’
performance. He has (co)authored papers published in many ranked journals
such as Personnel Review, Industrial management and Data systems, Interna-
tional Journal of Euro-Mediterranean Studies, International Journal of Manage-
ment in Education and others. valerij.dermol@mfdps.si
This paper is published under the terms of the Attribution-
NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Volume 4, Issue 1, 2015