What are the meaning(s) and context(s) of intellectual capital (IC) numbers? Specifically the number 42? The number which, as those familiar with The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy will know, was the (eventual) answer given by the gargantuan computer Deep Thought in response to “The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything”.
John Dumay PhD (Economics) Sydney, EMBA AGSM, MA (Bus. Research) MGSM, GC (Higher Ed.) Sydney, CPA, who is Associate Professor in Accounting at Macquarie University, Australia, chose the number in order to examine what he calls the “Accountingisation” of intellectual capital. His paper, succinctly and precisely entitled “42” is published in the journal SAGE Open, January-March 2015.
Bonus amusement. How many other standard English words can you think of which have a double ‘h’ as in Hitchhiker?