Michael D. Moberly July 25, 2016 ‘A business blog where attention span really matters’!
The word ‘multiplier’, as I have observed its application, has been primarily in military – combat contexts as force multipliers. Observation and strike capable drones for example, are force multipliers because of the operational – observational advantages they provide to various military units needing real time intelligence and possibly offensive action.
However, on the business side, as an IA (intangible asset) strategist and risk specialist, I consider a company’s IA’s as representing a distinctive form/context of business multipliers. Throughout the private sector, IA’s, originate in – arise from valuable intellectual, structural, relationship, and competitive capital or, IA’s.
Preferably, business c-suites and their management teams recognize how IA’s translate, convert, or monetize as competitive tactics, processes, and/or commodities to (collectively – collaboratively) ‘multiply’ – contribute to the effectiveness, efficiency, output, revenue, and/or value of a particular operating group, project, or process.
Either way, when IA’s are acknowledged and effectively integrated in a particular initiative, project, or even organization-wide, they can, and frequently do, favorably impact efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity, which translates as value, sources of revenue, and competitiveness, that otherwise may not have been acknowledged. That’s particularly evident in business environments in which there is little or no receptivity to IA’s either in terms of their usefulness, accounting, internal development, external acquisition, or maturation – conversion often due to a misperception that doing so would disrupt the status quo or create new risk.
IA-based multipliers, also refer to attributes or combinations of competitive inputs which again, often manifest most favorably when collectively-collaboratively drawn from existing intellectual, structural, relationship, and competitive capital. A general example where this has occurred is the package delivery sector as most firms recognized the obvious efficiencies which could accrue by integrating – coordinating both GPS (global positioning) and RFID (radio frequency identification) technologies which converted to growth in value, competitive advantage, and revenue generation capability. Standing alone, both GPS and RFID are tangible-physical assets (technologies), but the intellectual, relationship, structural, and competitive capital which together recognized – linked their application to the global package delivery sector should not be dismissed.
In this instance, GPS and RFID deliverables largely manifest as contributory and competitive IA’s that facilitate-enable the package delivery sector to receive, process, sort, and deliver substantially more orders and packages more efficiently compared to competitors that have yet to incorporate those multipliers.
For those operationally familiar with IA’s, i.e., their origins, development, and integration, in most instances, can (and should) also be leveraged – exploited as, among other things, value proposition multipliers, which in turn, confer credibility and rationale to capital outlays to pursue, purchase, and integrate the multipliers, ala GPS and RFID systems, while recognizing the various IA’s such multipliers produce and strengthen.
So, as more operational clarity is brought to IA’s contributory role and value as multipliers, organization c-suites, boards, and management teams will recognize – materialize as…
• expansions of operational prerogatives and boundaries that correlate with IA development, utilization, and
exploitation.
• decision – transaction outcomes becoming more predictable and lucrative whenever, however, and wherever,
IA’s are in play.
• the necessity for OR (organizational resilience) planning to facilitate quicker and more complete economic-
competitive advantage recovery following a significant business disruption or materialization of reputation
risk, etc.
