This past Monday, the Society began publishing data from the Steel City Re RepuStars™ Composite Index. This equity markets composite index tracks companies with rising reputational metrics and draws from the S&P500™ Composite Index eligibility pool.

The purpose of publishing these metrics is to provide additional financial evidence for the value of superior reputation management. Reputation management is what the Society calls ‘intangible asset management’ when speaking to the general public. This nomenclature is captured in the Society’s book, Mission: Intangible, subtitled Managing risk and reputation to create enterprise value.

The Society’s mission is education, advocacy, and the promulgation of standards. When we provide content for general consumption, we talk about reputation rather than ‘intangible assets’. This is why. ‘Intangible asset’ is an esoteric term of accounting that once represented the corporate balance sheet equivalent of “petty cash” but now represents 70% of the value of the average company. More than a decade ago at the dawn of the knowledge economy, the term ‘intellectual property’ took on the meaning of ‘intangible asset.’ Alas, that term too is in relative decline as shown in the Google Trends chart below. (So is the term 'national security,' just to give you a reference point).



In contrast, ‘reputation’ is on the rise. It is a term that is being searched with increasing frequency. It is a term that is appearing in news stories with increasing frequency. It is a risk about which companies are fretting in greater numbers. In short, as we reported in Intellectual Asset Management magazine not long ago, reputation is the new IP.  Dowload a copy of the article here.