INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL IN THE NON PROFIT SECTOR. MEASUREMENT PROBLEMS AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

Abstract

In doctrine, there is wide agreement on what is the main purpose of a company, identified as a firm’s capacity to create sustainable value. In the present economy, known as the knowledge economy, the main company value drivers are considered intangible resources and activities. The present work focuses on analysing the definition and measurement of Intellectual Capital in the non-profit or third sector organizations, and in particular in the health care sector, chosen for its relevance within the third sector.The contribution that this work seeks to provide is to give the reader a better comprehension of the IC theme in third sector organizations, by analysing the empirical evidence of IC national and international investigations in the health care sector and by studying a real case of a non-profit organization, which already drafts an IC report, in order to understand whether, from the IC report study of a health care organization, it is possible to understand the firm’s process value creation and the weight of the IC management as a factor of competitive advantage.