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Intangible and tangible assets are not completely independent from each other. Intangible assets co-exist with tangible assets and are impacted on by the management decisions. Therefore, they should be co-managed by understanding their relationships and the value creation they can bring to the organization. However, the source of value creation has shifted dramatically over the past 25 years from tangible to intangible assets. Intangible assets such as product discoveries, technologies, and organizational designs—and the human capital that enable these things—now make up the primary asset component. Then a question arises how valuable the intangibles are?
To take an example, when Google Inc. published its 2014 annual report, the assets listed on its financial statements did not include the value of the Google Network — the thousands of third-party Web sites that use Google’s advertising programs to deliver ads to their sites, and from which the company derived nearly US$18 billion and 35 percent of its total revenues that year.
Nor did it include a value for Google’s brand identity, ranked first in the world and valued at $ 166 billion in 2014 by market researcher Millward Brown Optimor, or for the company’s crème de la crème workforce, whose freedom to experiment with new product ideas using company time and equipment has contributed demonstrably to the company’s bottom line.
As per 2003 Bersin & Associates, Brookings Institution Study, Baruch Lev, more than 75% of the growth in U.S. market capital in the last 10 years has come from ‘intangible assets’—assets which are not listed on the balance sheet.
The above examples clearly show the strategic importance of developing intangible assets for a strategic advantage in the market.
There are two primary forms of intangible assets: legal intangibles and competitive intangibles. Legal intangibles are often called "intellectual property" and include things like: trade secrets, customer lists, copyrights, patents, trademarks etc. They can be legally protected and defended in the courts. Competitive intangibles are legally "non-ownable". They include things like: knowledge, company culture, know-how, collaboration activities, leverage activities, structural activities and more importantly people.
Both forms of intangible assets impact organization's effectiveness, productivity, wastage and opportunity costs. As such, intangible assets are a critical source of competitive advantage.
In the past, the market valuation of an organization was determined by its price to tangible book value. This ratio was developed when most countries had an industrial economy. It reflected the fact that companies derived their competitive advantage from their machines and physical assets. Now, companies derive and maintain their competitive advantage from powerful innovation, technology and intellectual property. Where once, the innovation and technology embodied in intellectual property were concentrated in the healthcare and technology sectors, now all sectors — even the most industrial ones — benefit from the knowledge embodied in their intangible assets.
Most sectors today attribute about a quarter of their value to intangibles and intangible book value as a percentage of market capitalization of the S&P 500. In the U.S. intangible values have nearly doubled every 10 years. And the stock market is reflecting this reality: mature, capital intensive companies like GE are being valued at 7–10 times their book value. Investors are clearly seeing something of greater worth than the physical assets recorded in financial accounts. That “something” is a talented workforce and the knowledge they possess which are clearly intangible assets.
The importance of intangible will be on a growth path for the following reasons:
1. Knowledge replaces labor and capital as fundamental resources in production and intangible assets create a substantial part of the value add of companies
2. The knowledge content of the products and services grows rapidly
3. The concept of ownership of resources will change: knowledge resides in the head of employees; then, who is the owner of the resources? Company or employee?
4. The management of intangible resources is different from tangible or financial resources. Companies which are successful in managing their intangible resources will succeed better.
To conclude, Intangible Assets are a company’s “weightless wealth” that helps it to obtain real profit. Every company should understand that, and paying much attention to Knowledge Management in general and to Intangible Assets especially may help to create and develop its core competences which will further yield competitive advantage in the market. Due to the strategic relevance of intangible assets management for a company’s competitiveness, understanding the importance and value of Intangible Assets of a company and making better decision in the allocation of Intangible Assets and their management becomes crucial for the strategic advancement of any company.
The main intangible asset is goodwill,trade marks and copyrights they both are assets but do not in physical nature
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