Strategic alternatives of regional intellectual capital management

Abstract

In view of the increasing importance of intellectual capital as a factor of economic growth, it becomes topical the developing methods of managing it on the regional level. The purpose of this study is to develop a practical approach to identifying strategic alternatives for managing the region’s intellectual capital (RIC). To achieve the stated goal, an analysis of the papers on managing the intellectual capital of the region from the positions of the system approach was made, a hypothesis on the essence of management of the region’s intellectual capital was formed, and a framework for selecting strategic alternatives for its management was elaborated with subsequent empirical study of the obtained model on the data on Vladimir Region - the federal subject of Russia. Based on the results of the study, the definition of the region’s intellectual capital management strategy is proposed to be viewed from the position of finding a balance between the development of individual RIC elements and the balanced development of all elements in its structure. Proceeding from this, three strategic alternatives for the RIC management are proposed: specialization, integration and adjustment. The proposed set of strategies and the way they are defined can be used as a methodological basis for implementing the RIC management by public authorities and regional administrations.