on the excellence of research center The case of scientific research centers in Algeria SOULEH Samah Dept. of Economics University of Biskra Biskra, Algeria souleh_samah@hotmail.fr Abstract—This research aims to examine the effect of knowledge management on the excellence of the Research Center. The study was applied to the case of Scientific Research Centers in Algeria; such as; (CDER, CERIST, CDTA, CSC, CRAPC, CRSTDLA, CREAD, CRASC, CRSTRA and CRBt). The data of the study were collected through interviews and questionnaire during 2011-2013, and they were analyzed using SPSS 18.0 to determine the interaction between the various factors. The findings broadly support the hypotheses and suggest a number of insights about future studies. Keywords— Algeria; Excellence; Knowledge Management; Research Centers. I. INTRODUCTION Nowadays, we are moving towards a knowledge- based economy where intangibles assets and investments are seen as essential elements to value creation in companies [20], and the emergence of knowledge economy are among the forces that are resulting in transforming Human Resources (HR) function (competencies management and knowledge management). A knowledge-driven economy is an economy where generation and exploitation of knowledge plays a predominant path in the process of wealth creation [12]. A study by reference [06], for example, proposed that knowledge-based assets could be found in three places; the competencies of organization members, its internal structure such patents, models, computer and administrative assets, and external structure such as brands, reputation, relationships with customers [11]. In this economy the competitiveness and the excellence of firms is mainly based on their capacity of innovation, the management of their intellectual capital, the competencies management, and the knowledge management. Moreover, it is widely accepted that firm’s performance levels are more closely linked to their knowledge management than to their fixed assets. The importance of knowledge management for performance has attracted researchers interested in determining its elements and the process by which enhances the performance levels of firms. As we said before researchers have been made many efforts to link knowledge management and performance, it is very clear that knowledge management is a performance input, and that the different performance levels vary on the type of knowledge needed and managed. Today many organizations are searching for Excellence but not many organizations have been able to achieve this goal because management does not have a profound understanding what is really means to be excellent. There are many models of Excellence, they give some success criteria to define and enhance Excellence, and we will define some of them in this study. Research centers as a learning organization in the knowledge economy push their researchers to innovate and to adopt continuous learning. What is remarkable that research centers in Algeria are managed by organizational devices and legal texts, as they are managed by formal and informal management behaviors, these behaviors are limited vis-à-vis the assumptions of the human capital management, knowledge management, and competencies management. In light of this, our research aims to examine the main question: Is the Knowledge Management important in enhancing the Excellence of the Research Center? II. LITERATURE REVIEW A. Knowledge economy: If the industrial economy ran on coal and iron ore, the fuel of today’s economy is knowledge. Technologies have always been underpinned by knowledge, but an economy run on knowledge is characterized by a critical role for information and communication technology (ICT), a high proportion of knowledge-intensive activity and intangible capital that amounts to more than tangible capital in the economy’s capital stock [16]. The influence of knowledge management 978-1-4799-7508-2/14/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE