Theme: Intellectual Capital
Features
Measuring
the Value of Intellectual Capital: An interview with
Baruch Lev
By Stephen Bernhut
One
of the world's most recognized and respected authorities on intellectual
capital
offers his observations on how to manage and value one of the most
challenging
and dynamic issues facing business leaders today, intangible assets. The
Philip Bardes Professor of Accounting and Finance at New York
University's
Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Lev is a frequent witness
in
litigation involving intellectual capital, and a frequent and vocal
critic
of traditional accounting. He is also the leading exponent of a new,
knowledge-based
approach to accounting.
Intellectual
capital and law in the digital environment
By
Brian Fitzgerald
Given
recent developments in the American recording industry, it is now
clear
that the law, along with other regulatory mechanisms, will play a
significant
role in helping an entity or individual realize the value of
intellectual
property in a digital environment. This article, by the Dean of
Law at
Australia's Southern Cross University takes a close look at some of
the
regulatory mechanisms that promise to play a significant role in the
creation,
maintenance and management of IC. Without an understanding of
those
mechanism, ideas and information, the currencies of the Knowledge
Economy,
may well prove to be worthless.
Making
sense of knowledge management
By
Julian Birkinshaw
In
a fast-moving, increasingly competitive world, a firm's only enduring
source
of advantage is its knowledge. Managing that knowledge is therefore
crucial,
and this article offers suggestions on how leaders can meet that
challenge
effectively. An associate professor of strategic and international
business
at the London Business School, Birkinshaw describes a highly
valuable
and practical six-step process for making knowledge
management
work.
The process he describes will interest CEOs and managers of global
corporations
as much as it will entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized
firms.
Using
communities of practice to manage intellectual capital
By
Eric Lesser and Kathryn Everest
Communities
of practice, or informal groups of individuals with similar
work-related
activities and interests are one of the most
effective
mechanisms
for managing intellectual capital. In this article, Lesser and
Everest,
leaders in IBM's knowledge management practice, describe how
companies
can ensure that these "communities" are successful. As they
state,
organizations
need to focus on building the appropriate connections,
relationships
and context that allow knowledge to flow between those two
have
knowledge and those who require it.
The
Ivey Case Study
PixStream
Inc.: Disclosing and valuing intangible assets
By
Jacqueline Murphy and Claude Lanfranconi
Perhaps
the central and most challenge question facing New Economy firms is
the
subject of the case study in this issue of the Ivey Business Journal.
The
case, prepared by Ivey Professor Claude Lanfranconi and Jacqueline
Murphy,
examines how an actual company, later bought by Cisco Systems,
deliberated
how it should disclose and value intangible assets. Both
traditional
and newer methods of valuation are discussed
and each option is
analyzed.
Commentary on PixStream's case is offered by Michel Magnan, an
accounting
professor at Concordia University,and James Tobin, the CEO of
incubator
and software developer Itemus inc.
Knowledge
management: Harnessing the power of intellectual property
By
David Aylen
Like
any property, intellectual property rights can be bought, sold and
licensed, used
to obtain credit, transferred on death, or taxed, seized or
expropriated.
Each of those possibilities underlines the need for
capitalizing
on and protecting those rights. In this article, David Aylen, a
partner
in the firm of Gowling, Lafleur and Henderson, outlines a global
framework
for obtaining patents and other intellectual property rights. He
also
describes a winning IP strategy for increasing business and a company's
net worth, and
a plan for for incorporating that strategy into the company's
business
plan.
Dot-Com
Boards: Not for the faint of heart
By
P. Michael Maher, Malcolm C. Munro and Flora Stormer
Being
a director on a dot-com's board is not like being a member of an Old
Economy
company's board. But just what are those differences, and how can
directors, or
wannabee directors, prepare for one of the most exciting --
and
challenging -- tasks they may ever face. This article, by two business
professors
at the University of Calgary, discusses those questions and
others
that a current or prospective dot-com director must answer. In the
end,
individuals will be able to decide if they do or how they can measure
up to
the dot-com difference.
eLeadership:
The Ivey MBA, HBA perspective
By
Mary Crossan and Elizabeth A. Spracklin
Although
some of the hot air has gone out of the dot-com balloon, managers
are
still left wondering whether there really is something fundamentally
different
about e-commerce that that should cause them to rethink the way
they lead and manage. Ivey professor Mary Crossan and eLeadership Program
Adviser
went directly to second-year MBA students and asked them to consider
a manager's
responsibilities from an e-business perspective. Does e-business
change
the way a manager approaches customer relationship management,
decision-making
and strategy development and structuring an organization?
The
student's observations are the core of this unique Ivey Business Journal
article.
Brand
equity: Capitalizing on intellectual capital
By
Chiranjeev Kohli and Lance Leuthesser
A
brand is a company's most visible -- and in many cases, most valuable --
asset.
In this article, two marketing professors at California State
University
not only define some of the key issues surrounding a brand, but
prescribe
ways that a manager that manage those issues, and hence a
company's
main asset. As well, they offer a seven-step action plan that
managers can
use to create and maintain high-performing brands.
Departments
Headstart
Financial Reporting: Communicating intellectual property
By
Darroch A. Robertson and Claude Lanfranconi
Intellectual
property may be a company's most important assets, but unless a
company
reports and discloses those assets properly, it will not be able to
exploit those
assets fully. In this article, two Ivey accounting professors
discuss
some of the challenges a public company faces in identifying and
disclosing
its intellectual assets and offer helpful advice for managers
faced
with those challenges.
Insuring
the Brand
By
Julian James
Whether
a company is public or private, management has a responsibility to
protect
shareholder value, which in many cases, is derived from that
company's
brand. Managers thus need to augment their traditional
responsibilities
for managing the brand with the new and sometimes daunting
responsibility
for managing risk. This article, by the head of Lloyd's North
American
operations, will help managers understand how they can protect the
brand by using
a relatively non-traditional tool, insurance.
Viewpoint
Managing
in the New Economy: Evolution or revolution?
By
John McCallum
The
New Economy produces, but it also seduces, especially many of us into
believing
that managing a New Economy company is substantially and
substantively
different than leading an Old Economy company. Not so, says
regular
contributor and University of Manitoba economist John Mccallum. Any
way you
look at it, he writes, running a knowledge company is still a matter
of
running people, employees, customers and suppliers.
Entrepreneurs
Strategic
Flexibility: The key to growth
By
Jim Hatch and Jeffery Zweig
What
really sets rapidly growing firms apart. It isn't just their success,
write
this Ivey professor and Monitor Group consultant. In fact, it is those
companies'
unique and demonstrated ability to adapt to changes in the market
and to
make the necessary changes in their competitive positioning. Using
examples
of companies in research they conducted, the authors describe seven
important
steps a company can take to make itself flexible and able to
adapt,
and to ensure that it will be around for the long term.
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