Intellectual capital management practices in Finnish companies

Abstract

Not many companies seem to be using the Intellectual Capital Management (ICM) models presented in the literature. The objective is to find out what the current status of ICM is in Finnish companies, how managers wish to develop Intellectual Capital (IC) in their companies and what kind of ICM tools are most desired. The research is carried out by two methods: telephone interviews in 35 companies and case research in 10 companies. The results show that Finnish companies are performing various management activities related to IC as part of different organisational functions. However, a specific ICM activity does not usually exist. Generally, the companies seem to prefer ICM tools designed for the purposes of internal development of IC (e.g. measurement) whereas external IC reporting is not considered important.