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RepuStars and Beyond

Congrats to friend and colleague from IAFS Nir Kossovsky on the November 1 launch of the  RepuStars® Variety Corporate Reputation Index by Dow Jones Indexes.

Increased attention to reputation is good for anyone interested in intangible capital management like I am.

Why is this?

People often think of reputation as tightly linked to marketing. Getting the message right is certainly part of the challenge. But no amount of  effective messaging will make up for a poorly run company.

How do you get a good reputation? By managing your company well. And since 80% of the value of the average company today is intangible, managing your company well equals managing your intangibles well. And you can’t manage intangibles by keeping them mysterious and intangible–you do it by having in place measurement and management practices that enable you to get it right: [Read more...]

Thanksgiving Thoughts on Agriculture and the Knowledge Era

Thanksgiving celebrates a story that unites Americans around the idea of sharing (and being thankful) for the food and many blessings we enjoy. It harkens to an agricultural era that pre-dated the industrial era that marked much of our country’s history. So I thought this would be a good week to share a few thoughts on how agriculture has changed over the years—and how it will undergo many more changes as we shift to the knowledge era.

The systemization of agriculture made the industrial age possible, freeing workers from subsistence to production of goods.

And then the industrial age brought increased automation and “industrialization” to the sector. Today, agriculture is a perfect reflection of the design constraints and practices of the industrial era including large scale production and distribution as well as heavy use of machinery and chemicals. The underlying assumption was/is that mechanization should be used to replace human labor. In the industrial era, fuel consumption, greenhouse gases and other forms of pollution were not as important as they are becoming today.

Every day I read about exciting new developments in agriculture that reflect the new design constraints of our times and the new possibilities of the knowledge era. Here are a couple. [Read more...]

Knowledge is replacing technology as the key enabler of our economy – The case of agriculture

I talk a lot about the knowledge era. I specialize in the measurement, management and monetization of knowledge intangibles. I wrote a book on intangible capital. So what I am about to say shouldn’t be that big a surprise to me but it kind of is….

Technology is not as important as it used to be. [Read more...]

Institute of Management Accountants Event: Intangible Capital, the real value of a business

The NH Chapter of the Institute of Management Accountants is hosting Trek principals, Mary Adams and Michael Oleksak, at their February meeting.

From the event announcement:

Did you know that a balance sheet presented under U.S. generally accepted accounting principles can only explain 20% of the value of the average company? The rest is lumped together as “intangible.” Very little is known or understood about this hidden 80% of value, yet this information gap affects the ability of management teams everywhere to make the right decisions and drive growth performance, as well determine the true value of their company.

These intangibles reflect the shift of companies toward greater dependence on knowledge. These “unrecognized” intangibles include a broad range of capabilities and “assets” such as data, networks and processes that together make up the fundamental infrastructure of the modern business.

Management accountants have a unique opportunity to unlock the secrets of this hidden 80% of corporate value. This presentation will explain how you, as a management accountant, can be a valued partner to your fellow managers and peers in identifying, measuring and monetizing these critical intangibles. We will draw from the recent IMA Statement on Management Accounting entitled Unrecognized Intangibles: Identification, Management and Reporting and the book Intangible Capital: Putting Knowledge to Work in the 21st Century Organization, both co-authored by our speakers, Mary Adams and Michael Oleksak.

More information and registration

IT Management is Really IC Management

The KNOW Network just declared IT Departments Fail to Deliver Value based on a global survey of IT executives by Axios Systems. Here are a few of the data points they cite:

• 57% believe their systems do not deliver the value expected by the business
• 64% are unable to provide the business with real-time quantifiable metrics demonstrating the value of their services
• 39% believe that business decision-makers still do not understand the value IT brings to the business.

The reason that IT management is so hard is that it is so closely tied to IC management. And companies are doing an even worse job with IC than they are with IT. [Read more...]

Act like the recession is over

It’s been a tough run for us all over the last few years. From the time in mid-2008 when we saw the recession hitting until now, we’ve lived through challenging times with quite a few of our clients.

Of course technically, the recession is over. But there is still plenty of bad news that gives us all pause every day. Still, the truth is that this year was pretty good for most companies. A number of our clients have had double-digit growth and have good outlooks for next year.

But it hasn’t been easy. And what worked in the past won’t work now. Here are a couple ideas to help you chart a new course: [Read more...]