Assessing Knowledge Assets: a Review of the Models Used to Measure Intellectual Capital

March 2001

Assessing knowledge

assets: a review of the

models used to measure

intellectual capital

Nick Bontis

This paper reviews the literature pertaining to the assessment of knowledge assets. Since

knowledge assets are at the crux of sustainable competitive advantage, the burgeoning field

of intellectual capital is an exciting area for both researchers and practitioners. Unfortunately,

the measurement of such intangible assets is difficult. A variety of models have surfaced in an

attempt to measure IC and this paper aims to highlight their strengths, weaknesses and

operationalizations.

Introduction

Nick Bontis is from the

Michael G. DeGroote

School of Business,

McMaster University,

1280 Main Street West,

MGD #207, Hamilton,

Canada L8S 4M4.

ß Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2001,

108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4

1JF, UK and 350 Main Street,

Malden, MA 02148, USA

By the year 2010, all of the world’s codified

knowledge will double every 11 hours. Nick

Bontis, Ph.D., September 15, 2000 – Santa Clara,

California, Closing Keynote Presentation, KM

World 2000

The quote above was received with a stir from

the audience at KM World. It seems that

cognitive psychologists are speaking with

library scientists, and they are both trying to

warn us about some pending doom. If individuals are being bombarded by information

now, they haven’t seen anything yet. The

exponential velocity with which this rate of

bombardment is increasing is unfathomable.

Although society as a whole should benefit

from the by-product of increased technology,

International Journal of Management Reviews Volume 3 Issue 1 pp. 41–60

the average business manager may not be

prepared to take advantage of this truly

knowledge-intensive world.

The popular use of the terms in the

following list hint at the increased importance

knowledge assets have in organizations:

intellectual capital, knowledge capital, knowledge organizations, learning organizations,

organizational learning, information age,

knowledge era,...