Generative and Commercially Exploitable Intangible Assets

This essay is to outline a classification of intangible assets into generative and commercially exploitable intangibles. It is argued that the definitions presented in the Intellectual Capital literature mixes these two types of intangibles, which obscures the causal value chain of a knowledge organisation. It is especially maintained that Human Resources are at the heart of the Intangible Assets of the firm, and that their relevance for long-term profitability in a rapidly changing environment is even bigger than that of Intellectual Property Rights, because they are the ultimate generators of patents, copyrights, etc. The paper furthermore points out that generative intangibles should be described in terms of monetary and nonmonetary indicators. Monetary indicators are important because they compensate for the shortcomings of the current accounting practices. Non-monetary indicators are important because Intangible Assets cannot be expressed solely in monetary terms. Finally, it is argued that the Balanced Scorecard approach is so cuccessful because it to a great extent reconstructs the value creation process of a knowledge organisation.