Measurement of Human Intellectual Capital in the United States Air Force

For centuries, companies used basically the same accounting system developed in the fifteenth century to measure economic performance. Through much of this period the tangible value of a firm, its plants, property and equipment, was closely related to the market value of the firm. With the dawning of the information age, America has evolved from a manufacturing based economy to a service oriented economy. Closely related to this change from a blue collar to white collar workplace has been the widening gap between the market value of a company and its tangible assets. Roughly equal before, now the tangible assets may represent as little as ten percent of the market value of a company. This difference in value between the tangible assets and the market value represents the value of the intangible assets. Many people define the intangible assets of a company as its intellectual capital. Since the intangible assets might represent ninety percent of the value of the firm, investors and managers alike are seeking ways to define and measure these assets. The Air Force, in many ways, is similar to a large corporation. It deals with budgets, rapidly changing world environments, performance expectations, retention, training and similar concerns. The Air Force reduced the officers in the active duty force from 98, 059 in 1989 to 69,892 in 1997. This research addresses the affect of the draw down on the USAF's intellectual capital. The uniqueness of the military is discussed and measures are developed specifically for the Air Force. The measures developed for the Air Force are evaluated for the years of the military draw down and conclusions are made based upon the results.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH School of Engineering is the author of 'Measurement of Human Intellectual Capital in the United States Air Force', published 1998 under ISBN 9781423563518 and ISBN 1423563514.