Michael D. Moberly is a business intangible asset strategist and risk mitigator. This post is one of 1,200+ researched, written, and published at the Business Intangible Asset Blog by Mr. Moberly. At kpstrat.com readers can find various papers, presentations, training, and a book authored by Mr. Moberly. Each delivers current relevancy to businesses across sectors about the development, treatment, safeguards, risk mitigation, and valuation of business’s ‘mission essential’ intangible assets. Thanks for reading…
Business’s reputation (standing, status, name, character, operating culture) are powerful, valuable, influential, sustainable intangible (non-physical) assets. They are obliged to be and certainly warrant safeguarding and mitigating the materialization of arrays of risk which can undermine – devalue either at keystroke speed.
As a longtime business intangible asset strategist and risk mitigator, it’s still routine to ‘see and hear’ business leaders (innovators, management teams, boards, and investors) perceptions of risk remain largely focused on and directed to business’s tangible (physical) assets.
A few decades earlier most business operations and economics (across sectors) were indeed reliant – dependent on (proprietarily developing, or buying, and applying) specific tangible-physical assets, e.g., equipment, machinery, systems to create, process, manufacture-assemble and otherwise prepare products or services for distribution, sale, and application.
Today, and for the foreseeable future however, variations of the opposite clearly permeate and dominate most businesses, i.e., their startup, development, maturation, operations, economics, competitiveness, revenue generation capabilities, resiliency, and sustainability.
While there 15 recognized types – categories of intangible assets, see What Are Intangible Assets? – kpstrat I bring attention to and focus on 3, i.e., various forms, contexts, and applications of unique and business specific…
- intellectual capital (knowledge, knowhow)
- structural capital (processes, procedures)
- relationship capital (alliances, rapport, liaison, associations), and the
- proprietary content embedded in issued intellectual property, particularly patents and trade secrets.
That is, across business sectors, irrespective of size, sales, stages, services, locations, products and development – maturation of each, most-more are (increasingly – irreversibly) intangible asset intensive, dependent, and reliant.
That intensity, dependency, and reliance is (fiduciarily) obliged to be recognized, differentiated, safeguarded, and risks mitigated because of their ‘mission essentiality’.
Doing otherwise is seldom, if ever, a prudent practice, tactic, or strategy. Especially when 80+/-% of most business’s competitiveness, revenue generation capability, and valuation, etc., lie in – derive from intangibles.
To be sure, some business leaders (innovators, management teams, boards, and investors) may periodically ‘dodge, or outrun momentum stifling bullets of reputational risk.’
Reacting, responding to the often ‘public shouters, shouts, and shouting messaging that produce unparalleled risk to businesses intangible assets, especially reputation, now come with little room or time for equivocation or error.
More specifically, business’s ‘mission essential’ intangible comprise and contribute to 80+% of most business’s differentiation, valuation, competitive standing, and durability and sustainability. And each can and routinely does (individually, collectively, and/or collaboratively) drive revenue generation capabilities and sustainably characterize a businesses operating culture.
Business leaders, innovators, entrepreneurs, management teams, boards, and investors are (fiduciarily) obliged to develop – hold familiarity with business things intangible.
This includes recognizing, differentiating, assessing, measuring, enhancing, and sustaining which, when, where, how, and why particular forms, contexts, and applications of intangible assets contribute economically and competitively to ‘mission’.
Importantly and practically, business leaders’ familiarity with business things intangible is obliged to include…
- developing – applying the right sets of intangible assets, at the right time, in the right way, at the right cost.
- safeguarding – mitigating risk to proprietary features of each.
- how’s and why’s for differentiating particular-business things intangible as ‘mission essential’.
Recognizing – factoring ways which familiarity with and consistently acting on each are now strategic obligations/imperatives for conceiving, starting, building, developing, and sustaining a commercially viable and sustainable business.
For evidence and sources to the above, readers are respectfully encouraged to peruse ‘topic categories’ at Business Intangible Asset Blog.
Readers are also invited to examine ‘Safeguarding Intangible Assets’ a book I authored at https://kpstrat.com/books/
Posts at Business Intangible Asset Blog are developed – written solely by Mr. Moberly (not AI). Posts are intended to draw readers attention to the development, application, management, safeguards, and risk mitigation obligations necessary today for business’s ‘mission essential’ intangible assets.
Posts @ Business Intangible Asset Blog present various business economic – operational realities. Business leaders, entrepreneurs, R&D administrators, management teams, boards, and investors across sectors report benefiting from these posts.
The Business Intangible Asset Blog was created in 2006 and now includes 1200+ topic-specific- long form posts. Posts are intended to provide readers with unique and reliable insights on current matters related to – affecting business things intangible.
