Management consulting practice on intellectual capital. Editorial and introduction to special issue
| Date | 01 December 2005 |
| Published date | 01 December 2005 |
| Pages | 469-473 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14691930510630895 |
| Author | Bernard Marr |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance,HR & organizational behaviour,Information & knowledge management |
Management consulting practice
on intellectual capital
Editorial and introduction to special issue
Bernard Marr
Centre for Business Performance, Cranfield School of Management,
Cranfield, UK
Abstract
Purpose – With intellectual capital and intangible assets high on the agenda of executives around
the world, and little practical evidence of good practice in measuring and managing these assets, there
is a great need for help. This editorial to a special issue on the topic introduces the problem and
highlights key issues. The special issue provides an overview of how management consulting
companies acting in this space suggest tackling the problem. The purpose is therefore to bring
together the approaches of different management consulting firms and to make their differences
explicit.
Design/methodology/approach – All major general management consulting firms as well as
specialist consulting firms focusing in the area of intellectual capital and intangible assets were
directly invited to submit a paper for this special issue. The call for papers was also made publicly
available in the journal and through e-mail campaigns by Emerald. All submissions underwent a
double-blind refereed selection process.
Findings – Even though many submissions were received for this special issue, most of the authors
were not able to demonstrate a sufficient understanding of the constructs nor were they able to justify
the tools and methodologies developed. Reviewers were made aware of the practical background of
many of the authors and it was ensured that sufficient and constructive feedback was provided. Even
with various rounds of reviews many papers had to be rejected as they resembled marketing
brochures rather then logical discussions. This unfortunately shows that there still is a massive skills
gap in the industry and companies should be careful before they engage with any management
consulting firm to help them measuring or managing their intangibles.
Practical implications – The focus of potential papers was not academic rigor (as opposed to the
Special Issue Vol. 5 No 2) but the provision of an overview of the state of the art in intellectual capital
consulting practice. The papers therefore provide practitioners with good insights into current
practice.
Originality/value – This special issue is the first to bring together in a structured and rigorous
format different management consulting approaches to the measurement and management of
intellectual capital and intangible assets.
Keywords Management consultancy, Intellectualcapital, Intangible assets
Paper type Viewpoint
Intellectual capital today and consulting firm’s interest in the topic
Today, many organizations recognize the importance of intellectual capital as a
principal driver of firm performance and a core differentiator. Also governments are
recognizing the importance of intellectual capital. The European Union aims for their
membership countries to invest a minimum of three percent of their GDP into research
and development initiatives. In the UK, for example, Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote
in a recent Government White Paper that creativity and inventiveness is the greatest
The Emerald Research Register for this journal is available at The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/researchregister www.emeraldinsight.com/1469-1930.htm
Editorial and
introduction
469
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 6 No. 4, 2005
pp. 469-473
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/14691930510630895
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