Intellectual capital-based innovation planning: empirical studies using wiNK model

Abstract

Purpose

Innovation is essential for business growth that cannot be created by financial investment alone but with intellectual capital (IC). IC management is critical for the organization, yet many firms do not have proper strategies. The purpose of this paper is to present an effective planning model that enables organizations to raise their innovation capability through strategic IC management.

Design/methodology/approach

Two R & D groups in an information and communication technology organization are examined with an IC-based complex system model (wiNK model). The model includes a descriptive part that determines the current IC state of the group and a prescriptive part that identifies the IC strategies for optimal innovation performance.

Findings

This paper demonstrated that the wiNK model is an easy-to-use prescriptive tool using IC to optimize innovation performance.

Research limitations/implications

The IC state of an organization is dynamic and changing. Regular IC examinations are necessary to track its changes.

Practical implications

This IC-based model can be applied individually without benchmarking with other organizations. The IC location map can be documented as an organization DNA profile for the organization. The tracking of the continuous and dynamic changes is beneficial to the organization and its stakeholders. It can be served as both planning and evaluation tools.

Originality/value

This study offers a systemic approach to the interdisciplinary study of organizational behavior and innovation with a pioneering use of an IC framework. It contributes to the field of innovation management with a new attempt of its kind to integrate management research and mathematical simulation model.

Citation

Fan, I.Y.H. and Lee, R.W.B. (2016), "Intellectual capital-based innovation planning: empirical studies using wiNK model", Journal of Intellectual Capital, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 553-569. https://doi.org/10.1108/JIC-12-2015-0116