Intellectual capital in the firm : the nayar systems, S.L. Case

Abstract

The interest by the companies on intellectual capital has grown rapidly in recent years, mainly in those where their benefits derive primarily from the innovation and intensive services in knowledge (Edvinsson and Sullivan, 1996). Often, that the society is in the era that some have called digital and other knowledge society can be hear in the media, this has been becoming increasingly important within organizations. Nowadays, intangible assets are more relevant than tangible assets, the intellectual capital has been representing with the time a part of the value of the company, so that more and more companies are concerned about value it. Bontis (1998) states that intellectual capital has been considered by many, defined by some, understood by few and formally valued by practically anyone, which represents one of the most important challenges for managers and academics of the present and future. The concept of intellectual capital has been used in the academic literature for many years. However, it is not until recent epochs when a small group of companies, like Skandia, Dow Chemicals and the Canadian Imperial Bank, generalize it to refer to all intangible assets. In this way, when these companies realize that tools they had to record the value of intangible assets were not appropriate, it is when the term intellectual capital begins to popularize and tools to measure the value of intellectual capital are elaborated. (Bontis, Dragonetti, Jacobsen and Roos, 1999). Not value intellectual capital, it can mean for companies a greater risk of taking wrong decisions of investment and finance and it can cause a decrease in the value of the organization’s shares. However, as mentioned above, it is not until the mid-nineties when it is tried to reach a standardized definition of intellectual capital (Edvinsson and Malone, 1999). Therefore, it is from this time when the interest to face that challenge increases. Many researchers have proposed several models and measurement methods for such intangible assets, the concept of intellectual capital is extremely flexible, but most researchers agree with each other to establish that intellectual capital is the most important within the organization and which it should also be reflected in the companies’ financial statements.