Implicit Evaluations of Intellectual Capital in Practical Decision Making

Abstract

A lot of the confusion about the measurability of intellectual capital can be explained by a neglect of the difference between an object, the capital it provides, and the profit from the application of this capital. An analysis of this difference leads to the distinction between the potential of intellectual capital for economic process and its actual realization. Case studies from different areas of managerial practice show that decision making about intellectual capital considers it both in the mode of potentiality and actuality. However, the level to which the difference of modality is made explicit varies a lot. Talent management and network planning tend to minimize reflections about potentiality. This is possible because these reflections are an implicit part of the preceding activities in the company that provide the basis for the decision situation. In intellectual property management, decision makers have more freedom to consider the further potential of the capital in question. In the application of different methods to evaluate intellectual capital, it therefore seems important to look for a strong consistency between the way how actuality and potentiality are taken into consideration by the structure of the business practice and the approach of the method.