Need help cataloging different business perspectives on intangibles

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Permalink Reply by Peter Spence on September 6, 2010 at 3:00am

Mary,

Would it make sense to include external and internal attributes of both HC and RC - While I note that competencies are categorised within Human Capital, I am wondering if competencies such as Negotiation and Collaboration may also extend to Relationship Capital, given the organisation may not necessarily be limited to the organisation's finite internal human capital. It appears that these core organisational competencies are relied upon to scale up both tangible and intangible capital and that the strength of RC is dependent upon the strength of these competencies. Similarly, in more collaborative/networked organisational forms, it is more likely that we access sources of Human Capital external to what the oganisation 'owns' yet negotiates - perhaps this is linked to Mauro's thought on 'motivational systems' (i.e. negotiated collective goals, interests etc). Maybe, I am tinkering with the concepts of HC and RC from too far left field but would appreciate your thoughts.

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Permalink Reply by Mary Adams on September 7, 2010 at 7:27pm

Peter - I would be interested to hear what other folks say but I always think of internal competencies of employees as human capital and the competencies of partners as relationship capital. I guess I wouldn't get too hung up on classification. Identification of the competencies is the important part.

One thing that I do like to do is differentiate between value creation and organizational/support intangibles. This is mostly for expediency. When you are trying to get someone to make an initial inventory of their core competencies, processes and relationships it can spin out of control if you try to cover everything. If you just focus on customer value creation and revenue, it puts some limits on things. Another selfish reason for doing this is to make the connection between intangibles and financials crystal clear to people. It's hard to argue about the importance of intangibles related to revenue generation, even with someone not accustomed to an IC perspective.

I am finishing up the article now but plan to re-publish an updated table--I think it could be a powerful way to engage a variety of folks in our conversation.

Thanks for your thoughts and keep them coming!

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Permalink Reply by Mary Adams on September 7, 2010 at 7:30pm

Great suggestions Nick - I have added goodwill as the "fudge factor" for accounting to deal with unidentified intangibles. I like the idea of adding an economist column because they do have a whole other approach. I'll have to get that in the next version. Cheers, Mary

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