Managing intellectual capital in construction firms

Abstract

Intellectual capital is rapidly becoming a key strategic resource for creating competitive advantage in the construction industry. The emergence of intellectual capital as a key resource for creating competitive advantage poses enormous challenges to executives of construction firms. Construction firms can meet these challenges by revising their thinking about basis of competition and focusing on management and measurement of intellectual capital. This paper presents a working definition of intellectual capital and a framework for identifying and classifying components of intellectual capital. It also presents a three-stage process for effective management and measurement of intellectual capital in the construction industry.