Soft skills are recognized as a key issue within the Intellectual Capital (IC) framework for leading companies in a
global economy. An increasing number of authors and specialists in IC are emphasizing the specific role of people’ soft
competences as a condition to consolidate new and well established business initiatives. At the same time soft
competences are recognized as a key element for fostering creativity and innovation. Unfortunately in spite of the
increasing number of articles in the field, still there is not a unique definition for “Soft Skills” (SK). At the same time there is
no empirical evidence that analyses the state of art of Soft Skills in business schools (BS) education. This paper intends to
fill the gap reviewing literature on soft competences in order to identify a possible definition. Several papers have been
studied recognizing some concepts. Using a content analysis approach the manifestos of a group of Italian school have
been analyzed to recognize the importance that Italian BSs assign to each context. The results of this paper could be used
to evaluate the impact and relevance of “Soft Skills” in Italian Business Schools and expedite the need to introduce changes
in Knowledge creation strategies a proposal to consolidate teaching of “Soft Skill” programs in Business Schools in Italy. The
data could be useful to further studies comparing different attitudes on “Soft Skills” in different countries and cultures.
