Intellectual property scorecard: Strategically capitalising on value created by innovation and R&D

South Africa is currently losing ground in the international technology race. The decline in capitalization of Intellectual Property (IP) is staggering and levels of investment in R&D are short. Industrial growth is Africapsilas new development strategy, driven by the emergence of new markets. This necessitates the management of multiple competencies that exploit resources, knowledge and management ability, to adapt better and faster than the competition; this also requires investment in transport, technology and communications infrastructure, through technological innovation and application, coupled with a customer centric, process driven, bottom-up and transformational management stance. Within the realm of effective knowledge management, strategically developing and taking ownership of knowledge and then capitalizing on that knowledge should now be a key focus of top management. The research focuses on inductive development of Kaplan and Norton´s Balanced Scorecard that identifies areas for development in knowledge management, and specifically the required strategic management stance demanded from Product Developers and Innovators with respect to IP, to achieve the competitive high-ground. The research offers useful insights on how product developers should carve out competitive turf, particularly from a knowledge and IP value creation perspective, seeking ultimately to enhance corporate/shareholder and product-life-cycle value.