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Collaboration as an Intangible Asset

Harvard Business Review

Interestingly, intangible assets are all the rage these days on Wall Street. There is no line on the balance sheet for "ability to innovate" or "skill at managing brand." Marvelous, but if it's invisible, how do you see an intangible asset or collaboration, for that matter?

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Why Leaders Are Still So Hesitant to Invest in New Business Models

Harvard Business Review

Today, the majority of market value is made up of intangible assets (networks, platforms, intellectual property, customer relationships, big data) more than physical assets. In fact, it’s not even close: intangible assets make up over 80% of the S&P 500’s market value — a complete reversal from 1975.

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Profit Is Less About Good Management than You Think

Harvard Business Review

Benjamin Graham , the father of value investing, seldom met the managers of the companies he invested in because he felt they would tell him only what they wished him to hear and because he didn’t want to be influenced by impressions of personality. So is there something different about the managers who do succeed?

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What Younger Workers Can Learn from Older Workers, and Vice Versa

Harvard Business Review

What we asked people was, at this point in their lives, are they actively building, maintaining, or depleting their tangible and intangible assets? Actively building both tangible and intangible assets is crucial to creating a long and productive working life. How to build diverse networks. Why might this be so?

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How Work Will Change When Most of Us Live to 100

Harvard Business Review

Just lengthening that second stage of full-time work may secure the financial assets needed for a 100-year life, but such relentless work will inevitably deplete precious intangible assets such as productive skills, vitality, happiness, and friendship. The same is true for education.

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What’s Driving Superstar Companies, Industries, and Cities

Harvard Business Review

These “superstar” sectors include financial services such as banking, insurance, and asset management, professional services, internet and software, real estate, and pharmaceuticals and medical products. Acquisitions, bold investment in intangible assets, and attracting talent can ultimately make the difference.

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How to Navigate a Digital Transformation

Harvard Business Review

That includes identifying your current mix of assets and the business model that your asset portfolio creates. For example, do you make and sell things, hire skilled employees and provide services, develop and new IP like software or pharmaceuticals, or build and manage digital networks, be they transactional, informational, or social?