Winter 2012
Shared Purpose |
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"What will become compellingly important is absolute clarity of shared purpose and set of principles of conduct sort of institutional genetic code that every member of the organization understands in a common way, and with deep conviction. "
Dee Ward Hock (b 1929)
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The new year begins with the story that Eastman Kodak Co., a firm with a terrific brand and global name recognition, is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection in the coming weeks. At press time, the company, which once ranked among America's corporate titans, is still making last-ditch efforts to sell off some of its patent portfolio.
Set aside the question of how a patent portfolio presumably centered about the products and services Kodak is most expert would be worth more to a third-party buyer than Kodak. The issue for the reputationally-minded is this: why would stakeholders believe third parties would be more successful in monetizing Kodak’s IP than Kodak itself. Even though the cost of selling or spinning auctioning the IP would consume 7-15% of the take, and the know-how would reside within Kodak, analysts are talking about $2-$3B and the equity markets in August briefly gave Kodak an extra $1.25B in anticipation of a potential sale.
The failure here appears not one typically associated with a damaged reputation. Rather, like Borders Inc., Westinghouse Electric, and countless others before it, the company’s business model has run its course. In fact, arguably, the expectations evoked by the brand name exceed the firm’s ability to execute. It's the end of the line.
This is not a reputational failure. This is a strategy failure. The CEO, with support of the board, has been unable to chart a course to exploit the brand promise of leveraging the fixed and intangible assets to create value in excess of costs. Shared purpose. Shared failure.
This year, IAFS will devote its programming to shared purposes -- the common (intangible) grounds between and among CEO, CXO and the board. One of the better known products of this interaction is strategy - an intangible asset. Less appreciated are some of the other intangible asset-creating activities we will consider. Operationally, we will look at CXO-driven corporate activities: ethics, innovation, quality, safety, sustainability and security. We will concurrently look at the corresponding board activities of governance, risk and compliance. Experientially, we will look at culture (what a company is), brand (what a company projects) and reputation (how culture and brand are ultimately understood).
We hope you enjoy what we offer, and we hope that you will continue to participate in our monthly briefings, read our content in IAM magazine, and send in your comments and suggestions. After all, maximizing the value we provide you is our shared purpose.
Have a great 2012.
Image credit: Photo by Peggy Matthews.
Listen Up
Programming calendar for the Mission Intangible Monthly Briefings
This free series of moderated conversations are fabulous educational events. We have a terrific line up with leading authorities addressing core issues on a broad range of intangible asset drivers of value. See the program list for 10H00 ET on the ~first Friday of each month below.
Our program moderator is the global brand strategist, Jonathan Salem Baskin.
Jonathan is President of Baskin Associates, Inc., a marketing decisions consultancy. He is the author of four books on branding and marketing ("Tell the Truth" will be published in April, 2012), a columnist on marketing leadership for Advertising Age, and blogs at Dim Bulb and Histories of Social Media. He has 29 years of experience working with leading global brand names and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. You can read more about Jonathan here.
For those wishing to follow the Briefings with written materials, slides are available for download on the Society's events page in advance of each program, and we strongly encourage audience-sourced questions before and during the event. There is no cost to the slides or to participate in the broadcast, but we do ask attendees to register. Register now for the next Mission Intangible Monthly Briefing.
In addition, if you should miss an event, or if you would like to review an event, an archival set comprising the slide presentations and audio recordings are available for each of the prior events through the Society's store. Society members receive a substantial discount. Learn More - Monthly Briefing
Briefing Friday 13 January at 10h00 ET
Program: Getting What You Pay For: Compensation, incentives and corporate performance
Goodbyes are momentous for corporate boards and stakeholders. For CEOs, accompanying expressions of gratitude may also be lucrative. Nabors Industries’ Gene Isenberg received $170m, IBM’s Sam Palmisano received $170m, and Google’s Eric Schmidt received $100m for jobs well done. What about expressions of relief? Leo Apthekar walked away from HP after 11 months with $13.2m, Robert Kelly was sent packing from Bank of New York Mellon with $17.2m, and Baxter Phillips abandoned ship at Massey Energy with $14m.
Exploring the relationship between executive compensation, performance incentives, and corporate performance are our guests for the monthly Mission Intangible Monthly briefing. Frederick D. Lipman, an authority on corporate oversight, is the President of the Association of Audit Committee Members, Inc., an international not-for-profit organization devoted to developing best practices for audit committees. He is also a partner at Blank Rome LLP, an international law firm. Peggy Huang is Assistant Professor on the Finance Faculty of the Freman School of Business at Tulane University and author of a study recently cited by the Wall Street Journal on corporate performance and CEO engagement contracts. Jonathan Salem Baskin, global brand strategist, speaker, and author, moderates. Learn more.
Briefing Friday 3 February at 10h00 ET
Program: Sure, They Say They're Socially Responsible: ESG meets CSR
According to Bloomberg (10 Jan 2012), over the next year, a rise in consumer activism and mobility coupled with global resource depletion will force numerous companies to make corporate social responsibility (CSR) a focal point of their business strategy. According to the 2011 National Association of Corporate Directors Public Company Governance Survey, only 2 percent of respondents said boards' highest priority was CSR. Is this all much ado about nothing, or is a revolution lurking?
Bringing clarity to the issue are investment advisors Rick Frazier from Concinnity Advisors, LP; and Barbara Gray from Brady Capital Research, both experts in the emerging field of ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) investing. Jonathan Salem Baskin, global brand strategist, speaker, and author, moderates. Learn more.
Briefing Friday 2 March at 10h00 ET
Program: tbd
Jonathan Salem Baskin, global brand strategist, speaker, and author, moderates. Learn more.
By the Numbers
Reputation is embedded in stock price. Reputation metrics exist to provide an independent measure. The Steel City Re Corporate Reputation Index is one such metric, and RepuStars® Variety was created several years ago to demonstrate both the independence of the metric and its value as a leading indicator. Values are updated weekly and posted on the Mission Intangible blog every Monday. Since 1 November 2011, the RepuStars® Variety Corporate Reputation Index has been calculated in real time by Dow Jones Indexes with quotes available on several popular financial websites. Click here for real time quotes.
The Word
MISSION:INTANGIBLE, the Blog
In addition to the weekly financial metrics, the blog of the Society offers critical comments on intangible asset management, reputation, and finance matters appearing in today's headlines. This past quarter, themes addressed included innovation, executive compensation, creative accounting, supply chain hazards, risk communications, labor ethics, trust, and much more.
Companies and other institutions recently reviewed include Rambus, TiVo, Coca Cola, NetFlix, BP, Walmart, Target, IBM, Penn State University, Kodak, RIM, HP, UBS, BankAmerica, and many more. Learn More - Mission:Intangible
Recent IAM Magazine Articles from the Society
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Intellectual Asset Management (IAM) magazine, a Globe White Page Ltd publication, is the media partner of the Society. IAM magazine publishes in each issue a contribution from the Society on a noteworthy intangible asset finance matter. And since the January 2010 issue, we also added case studies on reputation management. Recent publications have covered the art of regionally branding, advanced concepts in IP and venture capital, surveys of perceived intangible asset risk, the current status of IP markets, organizational management of IP and reputation, and using insurances to manage patent risks. Learn More - IAM.
List Your Book With Us
The Society is pleased to call attention to books by our members; last year, we announced the first book from the Society titled (what else?), Mission: Intangible. Managing risk and reputation to create enterprise value.
If you are a Society Member and would like to list your book at no charge with the Society and feature it both on our website and in our store, including links to your preferred sales channel, please contact our publications Chair by clicking here. We take no commission on sales, so value this offer as yet one more intangible benefit of Society membership.
Ongoing IAFS Membership Drive
Reputation, intangible assets, intellectual capital, ESG, CRM, CSR, whatever. To the extent that anyone is talking about any of these, it is like the weather. Talk. No action. Unless they, like you, are a member of the Society. You're not, you say? Here's why you should be.
Through our community activities, educational programming, and outreach, members of the Intangible Asset Finance Society (IAFS) understand the implications and differences among reputation, intangible asset and intellectual capital and are preparing to do something about them. Here’s why:
1. Thought Leadership on Financial Metrics. The IAFS is the only interdisciplinary Society of professionals in diverse fields such as communications, risk management, intellectual asset management, operations, and finance committed to the financial exploitation of intangible assets. Superior exploitation translates into enhanced pricing power; lower operating and credit costs; and higher net incomes and earnings multiples.
2. Risk Management and Value Preservation. A lost reputation can destroy a firm overnight. IAFS can keep you up to date with enterprise risk management strategies for ethics, innovation, quality, safety, environmental sustainability, and security, all bundled in the stakeholder friendly wrapper of "reputation" management.
3. Preferential Pricing. Society members receive preferential rates for IAFS products at our new store and discounted registration to various professional meetings. Visit the Society's current News page for conferences where you can monetize your relationship capital with IAFS.
To renew your membership through our on-line store, click here. To apply for membership, click here.
Questions? Contact the Membership Chairman, David Gould, or the Executive Secretary, Nir Kossovsky. For contact information, click here.
Faced with such a cornucopia of value, how could you do anything but click here for a membership application form?
The IAFS Store
We have more than three years of action-packed Mission Intangible(R) Monthly Briefings available for sale and download at extraordinarily reasonable prices for Society members. Each Monthly Briefing package, comprising an audio file and slides, represents the work of leading edge practitioners in the emerging field of intangible asset financial management. We also offer books, including the Society's own publication, Mission: Intangible. Visit our store.
Linked-In IAFS Interest Group
Subtly signal to your colleagues that you know what it takes to create value in those assets that represent the bulk of a company's value today. Linked-In, the business networking website, hosts the IAFS icon that Society Members may wish to affix to their on-line bios. Like nearly 600 other forward-thinking executives, affirm your commitment to superior intangible asset financial stewardship by (click on the following phrase) joining the Linked-In group, Intangible Asset Finance Society - IAFS.