Michael D. Moberly – March 27, 2024 – Business Intangible Asset Strategist & Risk Mitigator – Founder, Business Intangible Asset Blog & kpstrat
For most businesses it is not particularly challenging for customers to notice (sense, perceive) the intangible of a business’ operating culture.
Business – institution operating cultures, as readers know, can be interwoven and embedded collections – collaborations of appealing intangible assets, or interpreted as conveying unappealing intangible liabilities.
- As an asset, operating cultures can be attractive, inspiring, productive, and serve as value laden differentiators and contributors to/for the valuation, reputation, competitiveness, resilience, revenue generation capability, and wealth creation potential of a business or institution.
- As a liability, on the other hand, operating cultures can be perceived as conveying uncomplimentary reflections of a business’s reputation, i.e., uninviting, unaccommodating, and perhaps, too convention laden. Collectively, such generally adverse perceptions render most businesses less maneuverable and resilient.
Some obvious reasons for either are business operating cultures are experience-able, that is, they can be personally felt, heard, observed, talked about, and ‘first impressions’ are often significant and memorable.
I have observed business operating cultures to be circumstantially compelling, managerially engrossing, variously sustainable, frequently transferable, and occasionally generational.
Let there be no mistake, business – institution operating cultures are interwoven – embedded collections – collaborations of intangible assets, e.g., various forms, contexts, and applications of ‘dual use’…
- intellectual capital (knowledge, knowhow)
- structural capital (processes, procedures)
- relationship capital (alliances, associations, etc.) – Please review 15+ types/categories and examples of intangible assets @ Home – kpstrat
At this juncture, it’s especially important to recognize most-more businesses today, irrespective of their sector, size, stage, mission, products, or services, etc., are increasingly and irreversibly intangible asset intensive, dependent, and reliant.
Therefore, I encourage readers to favorably consider this universal business economic – operational reality…
- 70-80+% of most business’s valuation, revenue generation capability, competitiveness, reputation, and sustainability lie in – emerge directly from intangible assets. Intangibles | Brookings – Unseen Wealth: Report of the Brookings Task Force on Intangibles on JSTOR – Intangible Assets: Computers and Organizational Capital | Brookings)
In this context, and as a business intangible asset strategist, it is disheartening to learn about or observe businesses via their leadership, management teams, and boards, et al, appearing to not overtly – publicly attach import to and/or be attentive to the very explicit contributory roles – value adds that drive – influence operating cultures.
Admittedly, these perspectives may seem, to some, as narrow in the sense they perhaps apply most to circumstances in which one may have (a.) choice or options to do business elsewhere, and/or (b.) if-when one feels slighted or is turned off by an operating culture they experience or learn about, they may go elsewhere.
Interestingly though, the sensory advantage of feeling slighted, or being personally disgusted may become variously anesthetized due to practicalities and realities in play which render choice and slights, less important, at least in the near term.
In some instances, practicalities – realities may influence one to feel compelled or obliged to be less sensitive and more receptive to disregarding particular – aspects of an operating culture. In part, that may be because it’s probable same-similar, or variations will be encountered elsewhere and repeatedly, ala I don’t like it, but I have to deal with it.
Too, Professors Cameron and Quinn developed an Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) which consists of four ‘competing values’ that correspond with four types of organizational culture below. Organizational cultures typology of Cameron and Quinn (1999) | Download Scientific Diagram (researchgate.net)
Every organization (Cameron and Quinn note) has its own combination of these four types of organizational cultures, The 4 types of corporate culture, explained – Work Life by Atlassian
This instrument is a tool that may guide business leaders, management teams, and boards to reasonably…
- describe a current operating culture, and
- understand its strengths and weaknesses, and make changes to improve performance. Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) – Big Agile (big-agile.com)
- Clan business operating culture – refers to a type of culture that fosters a collaborative environment by accentuating-encouraging-valuing commitment, participation, and allegiance.
- Is largely horizontal (not vertical) in structure with pods of cohesive – interdependent employees who identify, share, and align with a business’s vision – mission. Clan Culture: An Informative Guide for HR Professionals – AIHR
- Adhocracy business operating culture – describes an approach of decentralized leadership, individual initiative, and organic decision-making. This operating culture does not rely on a rigid or necessarily convention laden practices, procedures, or authority.
- Market business operating culture – is focused on business financial successes, e.g., meeting goals and targets. Each employee play distinctive roles insofar as reaching the business’s larger (ROI) goals. The 4 Types of Organizational Culture & Their Benefits | Built In
- Hierarchy business operating culture – is built on shared (specific) core values, top-down (hierarchical) decision-making, and internal predictability popular among contemporary businesses. Hierarchy Culture Explained: What Is Hierarchy Culture? – 2024 – MasterClass
Readers can also consider the following observable (intangible) elements to describe – differentiate business operating cultures I have adapted from Organizational Culture Assessment Instrument (OCAI) explained | OCAI (wordpress.com)
- techniques, initiatives, data points, etc., used to maintain and/or introduce enhancements.
- markers (daily – strategic) for emphasis and review.
- bonding agents, e.g., essential adhesives holding operating culture together.
- elements which render it attractive, distinctive, competitive, ambitious, and expressively innocuous and fairly defendable.
- interest in, benefits of, difficulty for replication elsewhere.
- probability (commitment-cost) for durability and sustainability.
- appearance of being leader specific-durational, or condition-circumstance dependent.
- criteria to differentiate and assess contributions to mission successes and realizing benefits.
- influence on innovation, collaboration, proficiency, and productivity.
Readers are invited to examine ‘Safeguarding Intangible Assets’ a book I authored at https://kpstrat.com/books/
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, e.g., mitigating (reacting, responding to) the often ‘public – viral’ risks and challenges which produce reputational risks, are obligations with little room or time for equivocation or error.
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.
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.
Readers are also invited to explore other posts, along with books and papers available @ ‘Home – kpstrat
