ECONOMIC MATTER AND STRUCTURE OF INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL AS A FACTOR OF PRODUCTION

Abstract

Introduction. One of the properties of the modern developed economy is the predominance of employment in the intangible and technological spheres, i.e., the neo-industrial economic system, as well as strengthening the role of intangible components: high-tech production and, in part, the active dependence of "simple" goods on the intellectual component of the enterprise: brands, reputation, competence (sometimes, even their personal qualities) of employees, PR, etc. Like any other resource, knowledge will acquire the properties of capital, only embodied as a productive force in the production process: the existence of knowledge, by itself, does not give it the characteristics of a value-generating mean, only its use by resource carriers turns this knowledge into capital. The aim of the article is to form a comprehensive view of intellectual capital as a factor of production from the standpoint of determining its role in the system of productive forces of society and value creation. The methodological basis of the research consists of general scientific theoretical methods of categories essence cognition, namely: dialectical analysis of phenomena causality, synthesis, methods of logical generalization; hypothesis. Results. To form a holistic view of the studied category, it is necessary to consider intellectual capital as a factor of production in the composition of "related" such factors in terms of defining not only singular, but also special and general for the systems of different orders, the objective source of which is human, i.e.: intellectual, human, social and labour capital. At the same time, the knowledge and labour, already separated from the carrier, that is, embodied in the "nonhuman" factors of production, we consider to be singular – inherent in the first of all above mentioned. It was determined that quite often intellectual capital is associated with intangible assets, however, a number of researchers identify it with human capital, social capital, and even "quality of labour". There was proved a necessity of structuring "human" productive factors, based on singular, special and general of these systems, which will allow a clear idea of intellectual capital and its structure. Using the concept of intellectual capital, in terms of its structure, its economic content and structure were concretized, namely: personal capital; human capital; structural capital; consumer capital; materialized capital. The study gives reason to talk about the intellectual capital as a source of innovative development and the new value creation. Thus, the prospect of further research is to substantiate the concept of intellectual economy as an economic system, the source of gross product of which is intellectual capital.