Michael D. Moberly June 24, 2009
Serious financial times, like today’s recession, demand equally serious strategies to elevate the probability company’s will survive! Since the economic downturn began, there have been countless business management playbooks and articles produced describing a variety of presumably ‘shovel ready’ strategies for countering – mitigating adverse affects of the recession. But, while there is no other time in modern business management history when intangible assets are more relevant to a company’s sustainability, strategies focusing on better utilization of those assets are frequently overlooked.
Interestingly, intangibles’ constitute frequently valuable and potentially monetizable assets that most company’s already possess which, with familiarity and skill, can be utilized – leveraged to not only genuinely help weather this recession, but also lay substantive foundations for a more successful post-recession future.
Management teams retaining a bricks and mortar – tangible asset orientation however, may find it challenging to appreciate just how a company’s intangible assets can represent viable paths to survivability? It’s difficult to dismiss the economic fact though, that increasing percentages (65+%) of most company’s value, sources of revenue, and competitive advantages today lie in – are directly linked to intangible assets!
Better utilization of company intangible assets now, is a beneficial exercise, the fundamentals of which include:
– learning the various forms intangible assets take and how to identify, unravel, and assess the intangibles a company has already produced and/or acquired.
– identifying the various ways which intangible assets contribute to – deliver (company) value, revenue, competitive advantages, and serve as foundations for future growth and sustainability.
– identifying best practice (stewardship, oversight, and management) techniques necessary for positioning, leveraging, and extracting value from intangibles.
Better utilization of intangible assets may not be the silver bullet that will single-handedly allow a company to survive the recession completely unscathed. However, management teams and company’s that acquire an appreciation and operational familiarity for intangible assets will be rewarded because their initiative will truly produce multipliers and deliver returns!
