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Collaboration as an Intangible Asset

Harvard Business Review

Interestingly, intangible assets are all the rage these days on Wall Street. Most intangible assets are real but invisible, and the most important invisible ability is the ability (or, perhaps better said, the probability) to collaborate. So, the question is: What are the most critical intangible assets in your company?

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Do You Know What Your Company’s Data Is Worth?

Harvard Business Review

For example, at the end of its 2015 fiscal year, Apple’s balance sheet stated tangible assets of $290 billion as a contribution to its annual revenues, with approximately $141 billion worth of intangible assets — a combination of intellectual capital, brand equity, and (investor and consumer) goodwill.

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What’s Driving Superstar Companies, Industries, and Cities

Harvard Business Review

They come from all regions and sectors and include global banks and manufacturing companies, long-standing Western consumer brands, and fast-growing U.S. Acquisitions, bold investment in intangible assets, and attracting talent can ultimately make the difference. times more economic loss today than 20 years ago.

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Why Financial Statements Don’t Work for Digital Companies

Harvard Business Review

Our research has found that intangible investments have surpassed property, plant, and equipment as the main avenue of capital creation for U.S. The balance sheet has also become less useful for banks’ lending decisions because banks rely on asset coverage to calculate their security.

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Profit Is Less About Good Management than You Think

Harvard Business Review

.” Value investors like Graham and Buffett believe that the sources of sustainable returns on capital are not a company’s human assets but their so-called “economic moats,” structural, durable competitive advantages around revenues or costs.

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A Novel Idea for Putting Sidelined Cash to Work

Harvard Business Review

Second, for small and rapid-growth technology companies, the problem is compounded by the fact that, while rich in intangible assets, they typically lack the kind of collateral (equipment, inventory, real estate, etc.) banks require to secure commercial loans.

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The Answer to Short-Termism Isn’t Asking Investors to Be Patient

Harvard Business Review

An informed shareholder, who looks beyond earnings numbers and analyzes the company’s intangible assets, would notice that the firm has mortgaged its future. Gathering information on a firm’s intangible assets is costly, and so not worth doing if you own only a tiny bit of stock in a company.