Advances in the identification and measurement of Intellectual Capital and future developments in the Intellectual Capital research agenda: experience of the Intellectus Model and proposal of a synthetic index

Nowadays knowledge has become a key asset for firms in order to build a sustainable competitive advantage. The environment changes quickly and knowledge, and therefore the management of the Intellectual Capital (IC) of the firm, is a critical factor to take advantage of the opportunities. Despite relevant efforts in the field, the emphasis on its study is relatively new. The work is challenging because of the nature of intangible assets based on knowledge and the derived problems involved in their identification and strategic assessment. This paper focuses on experience of the Intellectus Model, analysing the main results obtained during the past 9 years and related to more than 50 applications in different kinds of organization. As a result, a gap between theory and practice is identified and discussed, as well as the main guidelines for the presentation of IC reporting and the proposal of a synthetic index that summarize the main variables which compose different forms of capital.