Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Intangibles: theory, categories, and the Kozminski matrix

2013; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 11; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1057/kmrp.2013.10

1477-8246

J.‐C. Spender, Paulina Bednarz-Łuczewska, Andreea Bordianu, Sarah Rohaert,

Capital Investment and Risk Analysis

AbstractAnalyzing the strategic significance of a firm's intellectual capital separates tangible assets from intangible assets, and demands close attention to how the latter are valued. Conventional methods based on cost or market value are of little relevance. Ultimately, the analysis turns on who makes the estimate and to what end. We argue for a third source of estimates, the same managers whose application of strategic assets sets the value-adding processes of the firm in motion. This is a constructivist approach that raises important theoretical and methodological questions about the nature of the firm and its value-creating capabilities. Objective measures cannot grasp these capabilities, and current efforts to establish such metrics are deeply counter-productive. We propose the 'business model' as the firm-specific natural language within which the future value of the intangible assets can be estimated.Keywords: intellectual capitalestimating valuemanagement estimatesKnightian uncertaintynatural languagebusiness model Additional informationNotes on contributorsJ. -C. SpenderAbout the authorsJ.C. Spender was trained initially as a nuclear engineer, and worked for Rolls-Royce and Associates on the plant for UK nuclear submarines. He joined IBM (UK) for several years as large account team manager, then worked in the City of London as an investment banker. He completed his Ph.D. in Strategic Management at the Manchester Business School, which thesis won the 1980 Academy of Management AT Kearney Prize, later published as Industry Recipes (Blackwell, 1989). After being on the faculty at various universities, he retired in 2003 as the Dean of the School of Technology and Business at SUNY/FIT. Aside from ongoing Visiting appointments, he served as the 2007–2008 Fulbright-Queen's Research Chair. His current research is into theorizing firms, managing, and markets under conditions of Knightian uncertainty. Additional interests and publications are on the history of management education, business strategy, and knowledge management.Paulina Bednarz-ŁuczewskaPaulina Bednarz-Łuczewska, M.A., is a Research and Teaching Assistant at the Kozminski University in Warsaw and a Doctoral Candidate at the Berlin Graduate School of Social Sciences at the Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Her research focuses on the study of social and ethical aspects of strategic knowledge management.Andreea BordianuAndreea Bordianu is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Centre for Advanced Studies in Finance in Leeds University Business School. Her research interests are intangibles and intellectual capital, intellectual capital measurement and performance measurement. She holds a BA in Accounting and Management Information Systems from the Academy of Economic Studies, Romania; she followed an Erasmus exchange programme at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and passed with distinction an MA in Accounting and Finance at Leeds University Business School.Sarah RohaertSarah Rohaert has a master's degree in Product Development. During her studies, she collaborated with Enegi, a spin-off of Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP). After graduating, she worked for an international company, first as a designer in the Portuguese division, later as Technical Sales Support in the Belgian division. In 2009, she obtained a 50% grant for a double Ph.D. about NPD-related knowledge management in SMEs at the University of Antwerp and the TU Delft, while supervising two graduate projects on the same theme, which she combines with a 50% job as Artesis's coordinator of the multidisciplinary European Project Semester Programme.