فرآیندهای مدیریت دانش و مزیت رقابتی پایدار: آزمون تجربی Knowledge management processes and sustainable competitive advantage: An empirical examination in private universities

1. Introduction Knowledge has been considered as a strategic resource, and as such, it needs to be managed to promote the competitive performance of the organization. One would therefore expect that for enterprises to be successful, they must exploit methodically their knowledge assets (Bolisani & Bratianu, 2017). In Iraq, the private universities like other organizations seek to survive and grow in the market, and are working to develop its strategic resources to ensure achievement of their goals. However, universities are increasingly facing new challenges, including financial and nonfinancial challenges, local and international competition, and the pressures of the diverse and changing labor market requirements (Almassoudi, 2007). In the changing world of today, private universities are influenced by some radical changes in the political, social, and economic aspects. They have embarked on a heated competition among themselves, between themselves and also with the public universities (Taka, 2010). Private universities are facing complex challenges in attaining their objectives as well as achieving sustainable competitive advantages. In addition, the matter becomes difficult because the changes in internal and external environment are fast, and moreover, private universities need to function with limited resources compare to its public counterparts (Arouet, 2009). The problem of study has been addressed two types of problems are theoretical and practical problem. The theoretical problem is has not paid enough attention of any the previous related theories to how to convert resources or skills into real capability, competency or core competency at a tactical level from a strategic perspective. It is because if there is no such conversion, there is no emergence of sustainable competitiveness (Grant, 1991; Hafeez, Zhang, & Malak, 2002; Lei, Hitt, & Bettis, 1996; Oliver, 1997; Petrick, Scherer, Brodzinski, Quinn, & Ainin, 1999). The practical problems in Iraqi private universities in relation to sustainable competitive advantage features are unclear. In Iraq, one of the challenges that its private universities have to face the need to determine the ‘right’ framework, through which competitive advantage and its sustainability can be achieved (Almassoudi, 2007).