Title: Intellectual capital: origin and evolution

Authors: S. Pike, L. Boldt-Christmas, G. Roos

Addresses: 46 Grays Inn Road, London, WC1X 8LR, UK. ' 46 Grays Inn Road, London, WC1X 8LR, UK. ' 46 Grays Inn Road, London, WC1X 8LR, UK

Abstract: This paper presents a history of the development of intellectual capital. The paper traces the origins of intellectual capital to the economists of the 1930s and shows how the concept of resources as the critical element in companies developed. The paper charts the development of resource-based accounting in the two key periods of the 1950s and 1980–1990s. In parallel it shows how intellectual capital as a practically oriented concept grew in two areas in the late 1980s into a perspective on management that dominated within a span of ten years. Finally, the paper assesses the current positions and highlights issues which need to be addressed to maintain the momentum.

Keywords: ntellectual capital; resources; resource-based accounting; intangibles; resource characteristics; intellectual capital methodologies.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLIC.2006.011312

International Journal of Learning and Intellectual Capital, 2006 Vol.3 No.3, pp.233 - 248

Published online: 14 Nov 2006 *

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