Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Intellectual Capital

John Dumay and Jim Rooney
identified earlier, Lands has been successful in adopting IC management and reporting practices.
However, by <strong>the</strong>ir own admission, <strong>the</strong>y have done so while struggling with <strong>the</strong> perceived need for a
set <strong>of</strong> concrete IC measures.
5. Conclusion
We conclude from <strong>the</strong> evidence presented that IC practices are possible without <strong>the</strong> need for concrete
IC measures. Lands has demonstrated its success in managing its IC resources while also showing
dissatisfaction with <strong>the</strong>ir inability to identify a set <strong>of</strong> set <strong>of</strong> concrete IC measures. The conclusion
highlights <strong>the</strong> struggle many organisations face in measuring IC. The fixation with developing
measures and frameworks continues as evidenced by recently published academic papers and in <strong>the</strong>
organisation studied, Lands, where <strong>the</strong>re is a preoccupation with ‘accounting for IC’ in an attempt to
make <strong>the</strong> intangible tangible. It seems academics and practitioners have still not found <strong>the</strong> answer.
We suggest <strong>the</strong> fixation is misplaced and <strong>the</strong> IC journey is better communicated by narrating <strong>the</strong> story
<strong>of</strong> how IC is mobilised. Doing so allows a focus on IC practices ra<strong>the</strong>r than accounting. This opens <strong>the</strong>
debate as to whe<strong>the</strong>r accounting can provide <strong>the</strong> solution. As <strong>the</strong> reporting manager highlighted, “I
don’t think accounting will provide a solution” because “… <strong>the</strong> complexity <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> situation is more than
a balance sheet”. Therefore we recommend following Lands’ example <strong>of</strong> telling <strong>the</strong> story <strong>of</strong> how IC is
mobilised via narratives <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir achievements. Doing so conveys <strong>the</strong> message <strong>of</strong> how IC is mobilised
without <strong>the</strong> need for an IC balance sheet.
As always, <strong>the</strong> observations and conclusions we reached here are limited to <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> Lands and
are based on our objective analysis. Therefore care should be taken in generalising any <strong>of</strong> our
findings. We highlight <strong>the</strong> need to understand <strong>the</strong> IC context before applying our findings.
Our future research will continue to monitor <strong>the</strong> way in which Lands manages, measures and reports
on its IC. This type <strong>of</strong> longitudinal research should continue to provide us with insights in managing,
measuring and reporting IC over time.
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