Invisible Advantage: How Intangibles are Changing the Rules of Business

IBM spends 3.5 billion dollars to acquire Lotus Development Corporation--and, more important, its chief programmer. French luxury-brands manufacturer LVMH invests in building its own retail shops to reinforce and control their image. Meanwhile, the Institute for Chartered Accountants in England and Wales issues a report that challenges the effectiveness of traditional corporate financial statements. In Invisible Advantage, Jonathan Low and Pam Kalafut explore the profound degree to which "intangible assets" are defining corporate value and driving decision making in all areas. The authors estimate that fully one-third of an organization's value is derived from elements that can't be seen, such as quality of leadership, strategy execution, reputation, and innovative culture. Invisible Advantage is a decoder ring to the intangibles economy--identifying the twelve "measures that matter" for any business today and outlining the new rules by which managers must play in order to attract the most talented employees, profitable customers, collaborative partners, and aggressive investors.