Michael D. Moberly May 18, 2009
An essential outcome to any R&D project, business transation, and/or marketing program is to maximize as much value as possible from the assets in play, i.e., intangibles and IP. This requires specialized and forward looking practices, i.e., stewardship, overight, and management of those assets that focus on (1.) identifying, unraveling, positioning, and leveraging the assets, and (2.) sustaining control, use, ownership, and value of the assets.
All too frequently though, the contributions that intangibles and IP make to a company’s revenue, competitiveness, reputation, goodwill, market positioning, etc., are overlooked, undervalued and/or obscured by businesses’ traditional focus on tangible (physical) assets. In other words, intangible assets’ lack of physicality, i.e., they are embedded in routine operations, processes, or functions but fall under most conventional business radar that remains fixated on tangible-physical assets.
One key to achieving more profitable, sustainable, and challenge free transactions when intangibles are in play is that decision makers would be well advised (served) to treat their fiduciary responsibilities toward intangibles (IP and other knowledge-based assets) as ‘business decisions’ that are supported and facilitated, not lead by, legal processes.
Other keys for decision makers to consistently achieve more profitable, sustainable, and challenge free transactions include recognizing that:
– the time frames when the most value can be realized (leveraged, extracted) from intangibles and IP continues to be compressed relative to those assets’ life, function, and/or value cycles…
– for the forseeable future, infringement and misappropriation will continue to underlie the expanding, extraordinarily lucrative and global counterfeiting and product piracy industry…
– intellectual property (patents, copyrights, and trademarks) are no longer consistent indicators of an assets’ or company’s value because they’re readily disregarded and circumvented by a growing global cadre of ‘legacy free players’…
– intangibles and IP can advance a company (i.e., its revenue, value, sustainability, or be used as a platform for future wealth creation, etc.) only so long as their control, use, ownership, and value can be safeguarded.
