Model of Organization's Intellectual Capital Measurement

Abstract

Intellectual capital theory has been active for two decades already. Despite that many unanswered questions in theory and business practice are still left. Issues of intellectual capital essence, structure, measurement and its impact on business performance are still being researched. Managers constantly look for the new solutions of recognizing, measuring and managing intellectual capital in order to maximise the value of knowledge, develop new forms of competitiveness and increase organization’s potential. Intellectual capital measurement has been identified as one of the most important issues for today’s business success. Plenty of intellectual capital measurement methods can be found in business literature. New methods appear within the intellectual capital theory continually. Some of them are implemented in business practice, others remain as theoretical suggestions important for further subject research. But despite that, a common view on intellectual capital measurement still does not exist. Results of the comparative analysis of intellectual capital measurement methods are discussed and the main bottlenecks of intellectual capital measurement methodology are revealed in this paper. Based on these results the model of organization’s intellectual capital measurement is proposed here. Intellectual capital measurement is specified as a multi-stage process of information accumulation and interpretation within the model proposed. Six stages of intellectual capital measurement process are formalized. The process starts with the situation analysis in which measurement problem reveals and the particular measurement target development. It continues with measurement possibilities assessment, measurement method selection and organization of its implementation. The process results in the decision making stage. Two alternative scenarios of the rational intellectual capital measurement process are briefly discussed in this paper and the particular measurement techniques are proposed for each scenario. The model proposed summarizes knowledge of intellectual capital measurement. It intends to help managers understand intellectual capital measurement process as a whole and implement intellectual capital measurement solutions purposefully and in series.