Intellectual Capital

In our work with corporate executives over the last twenty-five-plus years, we have experienced first hand the shift away from the industrial to the knowledge economy. Today, even “traditional” companies do not derive much competitive advantage through their property, their factories, or their inventory. Competitive success today is much more often won through factors like people, processes, knowledge, brands and relationships. As this shift has occurred, corporate leaders often struggle to assess, manage and communicate the value of these intangible, yet valuable assets.

In the past, traditional financial statements gave a good overview of a company’s operations through an income statement and its future potential through a balance sheet. However, the critical competitive advantages mentioned above (people, processes, knowledge, and relationships) are not reflected in the financial statements. They need an entirely different presentation. Trek has made a specialty of this field and is the founder of a website called www.icknowledgecenter.com. Trek partner, Mary Adams, also blogs on the subject of intangibles and intellectual capital on www.hybridvigor.net.

Trek uses a number of approaches to help companies leverage their intellectual capital:

• I-Capex Report™ which consolidates financial information about intellectual capital expenditures (i-capex). Companies spend millions of dollars on this type of investment, including training, systems and branding. The I-Capex Report enables the management team to see these investments in one place and, most importantly, to begin to understand the interrelationship between investments in people and processes in generating ROI.
  
  
• IC Rating™ system which gives a comprehensive view of all the value-creating intangible assets that make up a company's “intellectual capital.” This report complements financial reports by giving ratings of the relative strength, outlook and risk of intellectual capital portfolios which include people, structural knowledge, brands and relationships. For more information on this product, please visit the website hosted by Trek: www.icrating.com.

The work we did together helped us understand how we were viewed in the market and our competitive strengths. This analysis led us to focus on our core competence rather than trying to branch out into other markets. This key decision clarified our focus in marketing, sales and hiring. The following year, applying this strategy, we had our biggest year ever. [Read more client testimonials]

Featured Case Study:

• Services Firm, Software Quality - Improving intellectual capital management

Featured Publications:

• “The Power of Intellectual Capital Assessment” - Trek Consulting White Paper
  
  
• “Getting Top Dollar for Intellectual Capital” - M&A Today
  
  
• “Intellectual Capital Focus Can Increase Value to VCs” - IndUS Business Journal, July/2006
  
  
• “Where’s the Beef?” - American Venture Magazine’s website