It was a wonderful journey, marked with a wonderful ending. We received great reports regarding the thesis, and Alliz and I are very heartened and encouraged. Though we have yet to receive the final grade, we feel good about what we have done. Just being able to hold our 118-page long thesis in our hands, the product of our blood, sweat, tears and creative juice, has felt so good.
Of course, as in the case of IC, nothing ever marks the end, because IC is changing and evolving everyday. As we told Leif during the seminar, one thing we have learnt about IC is its dynamism and constant evolutionary process. In fact, our thesis will probably become obsolete in a year's time! Though we hope that the lessons learned and considerations garnered will be part of the history lessons that nations will keep in mind when entering the elusive world of intellectual capital.
So, until our next IC project, we bid farewell, knowing that we'll meet again soon.
P/S We save our most heartfelt thanks to the following people for helping us in our national IC knowledge journey:
- Carol Lin, for so graciously supporting us with the data we used for the thesis (we wish her all the best for her new book on National IC, which is soon to be published!);
- Pirjo Stahle, for her patience in answering our many questions regarding the dynamism of IC; and
- Markku Markkula, for taking the time to provide us with interesting and relevant information regarding Finland.
And most of all, we reserve our greatest thanks to Leif Edvinsson, for always asking the right questions, for guiding us and enabling us to leverage on his social capital, for challenging our assumptions and encouraging us when times got tough, for truly expanding our world of IC. We thank you!