The Intellectual Capital of the Countries: A New Perspective using Biplots

In many countries, investment in intangible assets is growing rapidly. In some cases, this investment exceeds the investment in Traditional Capital and Intellectual Capital is becoming a factor of differentiation and competitiveness. Many are the studies that try to measure the economic development of the countries, linking it to investment in Intellectual Capital. Among the most complete studies on this subject, we find the work of Carol Yeh-Yun Lin and Leif Edvinsson (2011) who presented a study on this subject, applied to 40 countries. Aiming to help to increase the knowledge in this area, we used the Biplot methodology, applied to the data studied by these authors and we have identified natural groupings in the 40 countries studied. Constructing a Biplot in which countries and variables are represented simultaneously, it appears that the variable most closely related to Intellectual Capital is PC (Processes Capital), having maximum association with data first principal component. Using the coordinates of the countries in a Biplot graphic, we have obtained a classification of countries into homogeneous groups respecting five variables - Human Capital, Renovation Capital, Financial Capital, Market Capital and Processes Capital - depending only from the scores of those variables that differ in some important points from country clusters, obtained by the geographical criteria and used in the publication referred above. We believe that the explanation of these differences may help to clarify the meaning of the concept of intellectual capital of a country and may contribute to an objective definition of this concept. This paper also contributes to enhance the discussion around the assessment models of the Intellectual Capital of the countries.