Intellectual capital of nations: a comparative analysis of assessment models

Abstract

Although intellectual capital (IC) is the most important factor determining the economic growth, the literature on country-level IC is not quite enough, and more advances are required to improve the assistance to policy makers in the knowledge era. There are different approaches to measuring and managing intangibles, which opens research opportunities and offers new tools to manage IC. This paper contributes to identify, select, and classify models to evaluate and manage intangibles at the country level. The models were identified through a systematic literature review. They were analyzed and compared using cluster analysis. The results show that the models can be grouped into two main categories according to origin and structure. Despite the differences among the models, the reports tend to converge, because of which the decision about which model to choose can be based on pragmatic issues, such as availability of data, previous knowledge, and complexity of reports.

Keywords:

• Intangibles
• Intellectual capital
• Knowledge management tools
• Measurement
• Country level