Diversity of open intellectual capital acquisition by SMEs of different branches

Research studies on intellectual capital (IC) focus on its utilisation by mainly large enterprises and its effect on selected indicators. IC is subject to single-stream analyses as an internal enterprise resource. Because IC is used in the business operations of enterprises, it must be acquired. This paper presents the results of research conducted in an unexplored field of IC acquisition. This research focused on innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) belonging to the two branches of software and hardware development in Poland (2008–2019). Empirical data were obtained in time series form using dedicated statistical tools, including the dynamic rate. The main conclusion of a comparative analysis revealed that IC acquisition in the SMEs in this research should be described as a simultaneous dual-stream (internal and external) process, and IC acquisition differs significantly between compared branches. Thus, the open IC (OIC) concept should be used in IC acquisition rese arch. Future research can focus on comparative analyses of enterprises belonged to different branches, thereby extending our knowledge of the importance of OIC in business.