|
Suggestions -- David Scheffman and W Robert Thompson
David Scheffman and W Robert Thompson give some suggestions on Intellectual capital. These suggestions appeared in kmmag.com. They are:
Unfortunately, most companies do not yet have well-thought-out policies, procedures and strategies for dealing explicitly with their intellectual capital. In our research we have developed an understanding of what best practices entail for treatment of intellectual capital. Briefly, these are the basic steps we recommend:
Perform an audit of intellectual capital. Identify all important assets (copyrights, patents, trademarks, etc.) and summarize all information in a catalogue form that can be easily amended and supplemented. Compile all information on your use of the intellectual capital, on potential alternative uses such as licensing, and on valuation. Use a business consultant versed in intellectual property or an intellectual property lawyer if your business warrants. At a minimum, get expert advice.
Develop policies and procedures for protecting your intellectual capital. Identify components that can be treated as trade secrets and implement policies and procedures that adequately protect them. With respect to patenting activity, recognize that attempting to patent an invention and maintaining a patent are fairly costly. Sensible cost-benefit calculations should support the decision on whether or not to pursue a patent. * Business strategy and financial analysis should drive the patenting decision. Most best practices companies these days have policies and procedures in place that allow them to determine quickly whether a line of research is likely to lead to commercially or strategically important patents.These procedures can also determine how broad the line of research should be and whether it should attempt to cover alternatives to the main innovation. Some lines of research may not be worth pursuing at all, or may not justify the costs involved in the patenting process. Similarly, pursuing legal action against patent infringement can be very expensive. Again, sensible cost-benefit calculations should support the decision. Identify how intellectual capital figures in your competitive position and business strategies. For most companies, intellectual capital is the basis of competitive advantage. Integrate your intellectual capital strategies with your overall business strategies, your technology and R&D strategies, and your marketing strategies. For competitive reasons you may wish to pursue patents that you would not otherwise pursue, e.g., for alternative processes or technologies that could compete with your core processes or technologies. Alternatively, you may decide that patenting is not worthwhile, since it will be easy for others to quickly invent around your patents. Remember also that legal protections, alone, generally do not provide much protection. Establish your competitive position using both legal protection and complementary assets. Develop strategies, policies and procedures for exploiting your intellectual capital. Recognize the strategic and commercial importance of your intellectual capital, assess itspotential value and, where appropriate, identify opportunities for licensing or sale of non-strategic capital.Carefully manage your brands, copyrights and trademarks. With respect to brand names and trademarks, make sure that your brand or product managers are accountable not just for current income but, more important, for brand managing equity. Also be sure that you are sufficiently creative in generating revenues from your copyrighted materials. For a start, think about published works and how they can generate income from hardcovers, paperbacks, excerpts, movie rights, tapes and electronic media. This article should provide an overview of one of the most important areas in business today. Intellectual property is likely to be one of a company's most valuable assets. Assessing, protecting and exploiting this asset will be critical to a company's success. Given the scant attention paid to intellectual property by many companies today, it is time that they quickly addressed this critical area.
|