Which IC components explain national IC stocks?

Purpose - The paper seeks to provide a consistent theoretical framework to measure national intellectual capital (IC) and also empirical evidence on the core factors which explain countries' IC stocks. Design/methodology/approach - A multidisciplinary theoretical framework is provided to underpin research on regional/national IC. Empirical evidence through multivariate methodology is used in order to design a method to extract the national IC drivers which can explain countries' IC stocks in OECD countries in the years 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. Findings - Theoretical bases of IC are presented to contribute to expanding territorial IC fundamentals and a regional/national IC model is developed. Results show that technological capability and the governmental policy oriented to business are both key factors in mapping the position of the nation in the IC ranking and both are mainly responsible for the levels of countries' IC. Research limitations/implications - The sample was limited to OECD countries. Practical implications - The paper is a very useful source of information for policymakers. The paper also opens a necessary debate on the critical areas that need to be reinforced in order to develop regional and national knowledge and national IC platforms. The IC index offered thus explains the key areas in need of improvement in order to upgrade the national IC. Originality/value - To date, no study has identified the critical IC areas, but rankings have been drawn up with no conclusions at all. This exploratory study adds new empirical evidence to fill this gap in the research.