Abstract
Analyzing 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.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahrens T (1996) Styles of accountability. Accounting, Organizations and Society 21 (2–3), 139–173.
Alcaniz L, Gomez-Bezares F and Roslender R (2011) Theoretical perspectives on intellectual capital: a backward look and a proposal for going forward. Accounting Forum 35 (2), 104–117.
Blair MM and Wallman SM (2003) The growing intangibles reporting discrepancy. In Intangible Assets: Values, Measures, and Risks (Hand J and Lev B, Eds), pp 449–468, Oxford University Press, New York.
Blair MM and Wallman SMH (2001) Unseen Wealth. Report of the Brookings Task Force on Intangibles. Brookings Institution, Washington DC.
Bontis N (2001) Assessing knowledge assets: a review of the models used to measure intellectual capital. International Journal of Management Reviews 3 (1), 41–60.
Bryer AR (2011) Accounting as learnt social practice: The case of the empresas recuperadas in Argentina. Accounting, Organisation and Society 36 (8), 478–493.
Cañibano L, García-Ayuso M and Sánchez P (2000) Accounting for intangibles: a literature review. Journal of Accounting Literature 19, 102–130.
Carlucci D and Schiuma G (2007) Exploring intellectual capital concept in strategic management research. In Strategies for Information Technology and Intellectual Capital: Challenges and Opportunities (Joia AL, Ed), pp 10–28, Information Science Reference, Hershey, PA.
Caves R (1980) Industrial organization, corporate strategy and structure. Journal of Economic Literature 18 (1), 64–92.
Davison J (2010) [In]visible [in]tangibles: visual portraits of the business elite. Accounting, Organisation and Society 35 (2), 165–183.
Dumay JC (2009) Intellectual capital measurement: a critical approach. Journal of Intellecual Capital 10 (2), 190–210.
Edvinsson L (1997) Developing intellectual capital at Skandia. Long Range Planning 30 (3), 366–373.
Edvinsson L and Malone MP (1997) Intellectual Capital: Realizing Your Company′s True Value by Finding Its Hidden Roots. Harper Business, New York.
Foss NJ and Klein PG (2012) Organizing Entrepreneurial Judgment: A New Approach to the Firm. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK.
Garfinkel H (1967) Studies in Ethnomethology. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Guimón J (2005) Intellectual capital reporting and credit risk analysis. Journal of Intellectual Capital 6 (1), 28–42.
Hopwood A (1983) On trying to study accounting in the contexts in which it operates. Accounting, Organisation and Society 8 (2–3), 287–305.
Jerman M and Manzin M (2008) Accounting treatment of goodwill in IFRS and US GAAP. Organizacija 41 (6), 218–225.
Johannessen J-A, Olsen B and Olaisen J (2005) Intellectual capital as a holistic management philosophy: a theoretical perspective. International Journal of Information Management 25 (2), 151–171.
Jørgensen B and Messner M (2010) Accounting and strategizing: a case study from new product development. Accounting, Organisation and Society 35 (2), 184–204.
Kahneman D (2011) Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, New York.
Kannan G and Aulbur WG (2004) Intellectual capital: measurement effectiveness. Journal of Intellectual Capital 5 (3), 339–413.
Lev B (2001) Intangibles: Management, Measurement, and Reporting. Brookings Institution, Washington DC.
Lev B (2004) Sharpening the intangibles edge. Harvard Business Review 82 (6), 109–116.
Lev B, Cañibano L and Marr B (2005) An accounting perspective on intellectual capital. In Perspectives on Intellectual Capital: Multidisciplinary Insights into Management, Measurement and Reporting (Marr B, Ed), pp 42–55, Elsevier, Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington, MA.
Levy F and Duffey MR (2007) A review of existing methods to quantify intangible assets. Int. J. Accounting, Auditing and Performance Evaluation 4 (4/5), 382–399.
Magretta J (2002) Why business models matter. Harvard Business Review 80 (5), 86–92.
Marr B and Roos G (2005) A strategy perspective on intellectual capital. In Perspectives on Intellectual Capital – Multidisciplinary Insights into Management, Measurement and Reporting (Marr B, Ed), pp 28–41, Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford.
Mosakowski E (1998) Entrepreneurial resources, organizational choices, and competitive outcomes. Organization Science 9 (6), 625–643.
Mouritsen J, Larsen HT and Bukh PND (2001) Intellectual capital and the ‘capable firm’: narrating, visualising and numbering for managing knowledge. Accounting, Organizations and Society 26 (7–8), 735–762.
Nazari JA and Herremans IM (2007) Extended VAIC model: measuring intellectual capital components. Journal of Intellectual Capital 8 (4), 595–609.
O’Donnell D, Meyer J, Spender J-C and Voelpel SC (2006) On collective creativity: an application of the theory of communicative action in situated practice. Critical Management Studies (CMS). Research Workshop, Academy of Management Annual Meeting, Atlanta.
Osterwalder A and Pigneur Y (2010) Business Model Generation. John Wiley & Sons, New York.
Penrose ET (1995) The Theory of the Growth of the Firm, 3rd edn, Oxford University Press, New York.
Petty R and Guthrie J (2000) Intellectual capital literature review: measurement, reporting and management. Journal of Intellectual Capital 1 (2), 155–176.
Porter TM (1986) The Rise of Statistical Thinking 1820–1900. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Porter TM (1995) Trust in Numbers: The Pursuit of Objectivity in Science and Public Life. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.
Power M (2001) Imagining, measuring and managing intangibles. Accounting, Organisation and Society 28 (7–8), 691–693.
Richardson GB (1960) Information and Investment. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Richardson L (2000a) Evaluating ethnography. Qualitative Inquiry 6 (2), 253.
Richardson L (2000b) Introduction – assessing alternative modes of qualitative and ethnographic research: how do we judge? Who judges? Qualitative Inquiry 6 (2), 251.
Roslender R and Fincham R (2004) Intellectual capital accounting in the UK: a field study perspective. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal 17 (2), 178–209.
Sawyer KR, Beed C and Sankey H (1997) Underdetermination in economics: the Duhem-Quine thesis. Economics and Philosophy 13 (1), 1–23.
Spender J-C (1979) Theory building and theory testing in strategic management. In Strategic Management: A New View of Business Policy and Planning (Schendel D and Hofer C, Eds), pp 394–404, Little, Brown, Boston, MA.
Spender J-C (2009) Organizational capital: concept, measure or heuristic? In Organizational Capital: Modelling, Measuring and Contextualising (Bounfour A, Ed), pp 5–23, Routledge, London.
Spender J-C (2011) The problems and challenges of researching intellectual capital. In Managing Knowledge Assets and Business Value Creation in Organizations: Measures and dynamics (Schiuma G, Ed), pp 1–12, IGI Global, Hershey, PA.
Spender J-C (2013) Herbert Alexander Simon: philosopher of the organizational life-world. In Oxford Handbook of Management Thinkers (Witzel M and Warner M, Eds), Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Stam C (2009) Intellectual liabilities: lessons from the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. VINE 39 (1), 92–104.
Zéghal D and Anis M (2010) Analysing value added as an indicator of intellectual capital and its consequences on company performance. Journal of Intellectual Capital 11 (1), 39–60.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Spender, JC., Bednarz-Łuczewska, P., Bordianu, A. et al. Intangibles: theory, categories, and the Kozminski matrix. Knowl Manage Res Pract 11, 101–111 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2013.10
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/kmrp.2013.10