Business Strategy and Governance of Intellectual Assets in Small & Medium Enterprises

The effective governance of intellectual assets in small and medium enterprises (SME) is a key factor in maintaining international competitiveness, but most SME are far from integrating this element into their business strategy. Following a review of relevant literature in which we cover definitions and existing frameworks for measuring and managing intellectual assets, we consider the maturity model as an alternative approach. The paper builds a conceptual model that can be used as a basis for characterizing SME governance strategies and behavioural patterns, identifying five types showing increasing commitment and proactivity as companies take a more strategic view of their intellectual assets, invest more in governance, create appropriate structures, systems and routines and adopt an expanding range of tools as they move from no action, through isolated responses to external stimuli to the adoption of an integrative governance approach. The model has both practical uses for managers and constitutes a solid foundation for further research.