University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Intangible Capital
Book

Intangible Capital

Putting Knowledge to Work in the 21st-Century Organization

Mary Adams and Michael Oleksak
Praeger, 2010
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Editorial Rating

7

Qualities

  • Applicable

Recommendation

Management consultants Mary Adams and Michael Oleksak shine a spotlight on “intangible capital” (IC) and explain how companies can succeed by quantifying and leveraging IC. Intangible capital includes “human capital, relationship capital, structural capital and business recipe.” The authors outline IC and describe how intangible capital has come to comprise 70% of most companies’ valuations. getAbstract highly recommends this book to CEOs, CIOs, and all executives and managers who want to understand the true heart of their businesses.

Summary

How Is Your Knowledge of Your Company’s Knowledge?

In today’s information economy, intangible assets – employee expertise, intellectual property, reputation, brand, business processes, networks and innovative brio – comprise much of a firm’s value. Still, executives focus more on measuring their conventional assets. While this effort remains essential, such assets make up only about 30% of most companies’ total valuation.

Such insularity ignores the fact that most successful modern businesses are “knowledge factories.” Thriving businesses transform basic knowledge into efficient, scalable processes that produce value for their customers. That is “intangible capital” (IC). Most companies cannot describe these crucial assets or list their necessary components. CEOs pride themselves on knowing, and being able to quantify, every aspect of their businesses, yet most executives depend on intuition to assess their priceless IC.

An Invaluable Resource

Knowledge is a critical business resource. Strategically managed, your company’s knowledge should become a money-earning asset, as Google and Microsoft demonstrate daily. No matter what product or service your ...

About the Authors

Management consultants Mary Adams and Michael Oleksak are the co-founders of Trek Consulting.

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