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Abstract
Purpose - In 1994 the Swedish insurance company Skandia published the first intellectual capital report. Following these steps, other European companies decided to report on intangible resources. The Indian company, Reliance Industries Limited, published the first Indian intellectual capital report in 1997. Later other Indian companies also started to build and publish this new type of corporate report. Now the question is: are there any differences between Indian intellectual capital reports and European intellectual capital reports? If so, what ideas can be derived from these differences?
Design/methodology/approach - A case study was carried out to analyse how Indian firms build the intellectual capital report. In particular three leading Indian firms were selected: Reliance Industries Limited, Balrampur Chini Mills, and Shree Cement Limited.
Findings - The paper offers insights into how leading Indian firms measure and report knowledge-based resources. The Indian intellectual capital report does not focus on the business model, values, mission and vision and/or knowledge management issues as in the case of European intellectual capital reports. It presents a "narrative" style. This is a major distinctive feature of Indian reports.
Practical implications - The case study may help other companies to build the intellectual capital report. As the paper also provides a comparative view of Indian and European intellectual capital reports, managers can decide which approach better fits their firms.
Originality/value - Most papers on intellectual capital measuring and reporting focus on European firms. However, this pioneer paper offers some insights into the reporting of intellectual capital in Indian companies.
Keywords case studies, India, Intangible assets, Intellectual capital
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
The Swedish insurance company Skandia published the first intellectual capital report in 1994. Great attention and expectation was directed towards the world's first intellectual capital report. Clearly this report was a milestone not only in the field of intellectual capital, but also in the financial area as firms realised that just publishing financial statements was not enough to have rich information for the decision-making process.
This paper is structured in to four basic sections. The first section briefly reviews the history of intellectual capital from 1994-2004. Major steps taken are analysed and some insights on future trends are presented. The second section is focused on intellectual capital reports in...