Intellectual capital: not a black and white issue - [management inventions]

Intellectual capital, like insurance, needs to be understood and dealt with before it's too late. The article explains why there's more to it than intellectual property issues. Even if an organisation has taken measures to protect its intellectual capital, they may still not understand how to exploit it fully. Protection, although important, is not enough. An organisation needs to understand just what its intellectual capital consists of, and then not just how to safeguard it, but also to commercialise it. A company's value is contained in its wider intellectual capital, where know-how, branding, skills and processes all have a part to play. Ideas and inventions provide a company's heartbeat, but it is the wider intellectual capital that drives growth and sustainability.