Intangible Capital: Putting Knowledge to Work in the 21st-Century Organization [Hardcover]

Mary Adams (Author), Michael Oleksak (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 5, 2010 | ISBN-10: 0313380740 | ISBN-13: 978-0313380747

Description:
Intangible Capital: Putting Knowledge to Work in the 21st-Century Organization is for every manager struggling to succeed and innovate in today's knowledge-based economy. This must-have handbook helps businesspeople build smarter, more successful companies by maximizing the knowledge that is already inside their organizations.

Most businesspeople have heard of the growing importance of knowledge workers, information technology, innovation, networks, reputation, and performance management. Like no other guidebook, Intangible Capital shows how each of these trends fit into an overall discipline of intangibles management. The book takes the ten basic building blocks of traditional, industrial-era businesses and defines their knowledge-era equivalents--intangibles as the new raw material, intellectual capital (IC) as the new production line, IC assessment as the new balance sheet, and networks as the new organizational chart.

This approach provides a clear road map for managers adapting to the realities of business today, one that helps translate the new world of the knowledge-based economy into understandable terms and ready-to-implement ideas.

Title Features:

• Includes an exercise at the end of each chapter that enables readers to connect the chapter to their own businesses
• Presents a resource section in each chapter for additional print and online sources
• An accompanying website at intangiblecapitalbook.com with sections for all key corporate titles (CEO, CFO, CIO, COO, etc.) shows how the book relates to their work and serves as a forum for ideas among readers
• A full index covering both industrial- and knowledge-era tools to make it easier for readers to make a connection with their current work approaches

Editorial Reviews

Review

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"It's much more fun to read than the rather solemn title suggests, combining strands of history, economics, management, metaphor and common sense, personal experience and anecdote. It's also a monument to the metamorphosis of management and asset management philosophies from the age of bricks and mortar to the world of the internet. …Since the right answers are (i) business-specific and (ii) change in time, while the right questions can be applied more generally and are less subject to the vicissitudes of commercial fashion, this is altogether a greater benefit to the reader."

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ipfinance.blogspot.com

"…brilliant new book…This is a must read."

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thinkipstrategy.com

"If you want to know what issues businesses will be grappling with in the next few years, read Intangible Capital and think about the possible impacts as, not if, the ideas presented in this book come to pass."

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innovateonpurpose.blogspot.com

"The book provides tips that will help managers adapt to the knowledge-based economy and measure the true effect of intangibles on the bottom line."

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IP Spotlight

Review

"Intangible Capital is a breakthrough book. Adams and Oleksak have managed the near impossible: to make the complex topic of intangible assets understandable and meaningful to businessmen, policymakers and the general public. I consider this a guidebook to the economy of the 21st Century."

(

Kenan Jarboe
President, Athena Alliance

)

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 171 pages
• Publisher: Praeger (May 5, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0313380740
• ISBN-13: 978-0313380747
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 0.9 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #588,139 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars The definitive primer on intangible assets July 29, 2011

By Rolf Dobelli HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

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.

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought provoking subject December 31, 2010

By Maria

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This introduced a new area of thought for me. This book is a thorough treatment. It discusses the different types of intangible capital, the value of measuring it and the different ways of doing so.

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for every business hoping to survive in the 21st Century July 29, 2010

By M.H. Imm

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book opens the door to new thinking on old subjects. Bankers have been talking about making "air ball" loans for years. Institutional lenders and investors talk about "cash flow lending". They are really talking about loans based on Intangible Capital. But before this book, who's had the tools to follow how this important part of a business enterprise is managed and valued? This book draws parallels to the ways businesses managed their tangible capital assets and the way lenders and investors valued such capital. Must reading for any investor or manager of the typical 21st century business, where value is most often being created "out of thin air" and there aren't the tangible assets to point to as an explanation of the value of the business.

5.0 out of 5 stars Captured! The Omnipotent Intangible. July 21, 2010

By Paul Clargo

Format:Hardcover

Excellent book.

Intangible Capital is an excellent insight into a mature and smart approach to running a business. I found the book demonstrates the importance of intangible assets and maps out how to identify these assets, make them visible in accounting terms and increase the value of a company. But perhaps more importantly to me, the book explains how to leverage intangible assets to create growth and in this time of economic crisis smart, long-term thinking may be the essential ingredient that has been missing in developing sustainable businesses and long-term growth and profits. Intangible Capital (often called intellectual capital) demonstrates there is a smarter way of analysing and progressing a business since the intangible is omnipotent and therefore unavoidable, this means if we are not managing the intangible assets of the business we are not really managing the business to its full potential (Mary & Michael point out that more than 70% of business assets are intangible).

I found the book packed with real surprises, while the book is well laid out and very informative, some pages were extremely enlightening and kept me wanting more, there are so many lessons for top managers, middle and lower managers, all employees and students within these pages. The book highlights that managers should be aware of their intangible capital so that they are able to assess how it impacts current performance and how they will be able to improve future performance through improved understanding and control of intangible assets. This means that more intelligent decisions are possible improving people, process and relationships and reducing or eliminating risk.... Capturing intangibles is made easier with a series of worksheet exercises enabling readers to apply the lessons from the book, this gives the book real value to a business far greater than the few dollars invested in its purchase, since the execution matters a great deal more than the idea, Mary and Michael show you not just the 'why' but the 'how' aswell!

Mary and Michael state that they 'are out to help business people everywhere get a little smarter' and this book certainly achieves this objective. Certainly, knowledge of Intangible Capital is a must for business leaders everywhere, this type of thinking should be available at all levels of education to help nurture great future leaders! The new economy that will rise out of this great recession will do no better without the lessons from 'Intangible Capital'. Perhaps now, after this practical handbook, the business world will start analysing and tracking its intangible capital and use the knowledge to develop real long-term sustainable results in a new smarter perspective.

Paul Clargo
IDF Business Consultants Read more ›

4.0 out of 5 stars I get it! July 7, 2010

By AvidReader

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was a little put off by the title, but after reading the intro and first chapter I really get the concept about which the authors are writing. They use anticdotes, excellent examples and real life experiences to make the idea of intellectual capital come alive. I also liked how many of their references were to online articles. I thought the interactive questions at the end of each chapter were challenging, but also a way to make a connection to the book and the concept. I think all business types should read this book and do the exercises. It would certainly make a difference in how they look at their company and their employees.

5.0 out of 5 stars You Will Want to Share What You Learn June 28, 2010

By TPM72

Format:Hardcover

Intangible Capital provides valuable insight into today's shifting economy. Clear and concise examples with targeted exercises make it easy to put Mary's and Michael's concepts into practice. Business people at all levels could benefit from reading this book - I am going to pass it along to my CEO (I just hope he can read it through all of my eager notetaking and underlining!). A must read for any striving "Intangible Capitalist".

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars IC field manual for senior managers July 17, 2010

By Ed Wike

Format:Hardcover

The first thing to know about intangible capital (IC), and why it is important, is the sheer scale involved. In the typical company in today's knowledge economy the value of intangibles (e.g., knowledge, processes, intellectual property, relationships with customers and partners, competencies, experience, brands, and reputation) is estimated at 70% of total company value. Annual corporate expenditures on intangibles now exceed tangible expenditures by a wide margin. The totals are in the trillions.

The next thing to know about intangible capital, and why this book is important, is that managing intangible capital is relatively new and not well understood; plus, as the book explains, there is a serious deficiency with the way companies report and account for their IC expenditures, if at all. The importance of these issues has motivated the authors, leading IC experts with experience in commercial banking and strategy consulting, to write this book as the first milestone of their mission to address them. That's where the book drives to, and there's a wealth of information for the reader along the way.

With Intangible Capital: Putting Knowledge to Work in the 21st-Century Organization, Mary Adams and Michael Oleksak have created, essentially, an IC field manual for senior managers with specific, practical advice on how to manage their intangible capital to grow their businesses in the knowledge economy. In the book, they paint the full IC landscape, combining a comprehensive introduction to the subject with an extensive survey of topics and research that benefit the novice and expert reader alike.... In a non-clichéd, conversational style, they describe the components of the knowledge-based enterprise as a knowledge factory using analogies with industrial-age factory counterparts. For example, intangibles are the new raw materials, networks are the new organization charts, and orchestration is the new management. The exposition is rich in content and illustrated with interesting examples, including recent high profile cases in the chapter on company reputation and why that is critical for intangible capital. One highlight not to miss is an ingenious 3-D modeling method that uses Lego blocks to represent how a company generates profits from their knowledge. An example for Google can be seen on YouTube ("You Can Grow Like Google").

The knowledge factory analogy (the New Factory) continues with a section on the New Management (with an interesting chapter on innovation) and concludes with a section on the New Accounting (providing the IC viewpoint for implementing key performance indicators, metrics, and dashboards). At this point, having educated the reader on the subject of intangible capital, the authors call attention to an important problem with current IC accounting/reporting practices; then they masterfully combine their banking and IC expertise to propose a logical and compelling solution. All in all, it's quite a story. Read more ›