The Wealth of Knowledge: Intellectual Capital and the Twenty-first Century Organization - Softcover

Stewart, Thomas A. A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0385500726 ISBN 13: 9780385500722

Publisher: Crown, 2003

Synopsis

In Thomas A. Stewart's bestselling first book, Intellectual Capital, he redefined the priorities of businesses around the world, demonstrating that the most important assets companies own today are often not tangible goods, equipment, financial capital, or market share, but the intangibles: patents, the knowledge of workers, and the information about customers and channels and past experience that a company has in its institutional memory. Now in his new book, The Wealth of Knowledge, Stewart--widely acknowledged as the world's leading expert on working with intellectual capital in today's knowledge economy--reveals how today's companies are applying the concept of intellectual capital into day-to-day operations to dramatically increase their success in the marketplace.

Arguing that companies can make untold millions of dollars by managing knowledge more effectively--and save millions more--Stewart offers executives and managers compelling accounts of how leading companies around the world are successfully tackling the practical issues involved in today's knowledge economy. The heart of the book is a revolutionary 4-step preocess that shows how to put intellectual capital to work to improve performance and profitablity, as well as manage knowledge processes. He goes on to discuss how companies can better utilize their current assets and enhance their knowledge resources for the future. Questioning many of the assumptions that have ruled business in the twentieth century, he addresses such critical and fundamental issues as why companies exist, how they should be organized and how people should be compensated. With his customary fearlessness and foresight, he plunges into the thick of the controversial arena of measuring and accounting, as well-an increasingly difficult task when a corporation's assets are intangible.

The Wealth of Knowledge not only sets out the latest thinking in creating and managing knowledge assets, but provides a detailed course of action for corporations trying to navigate their way in the world of knowledge economy.

About this title

Review

"Savvy, fun to read, and deeply profound. Stewart shows how a new set of business fundamentals is emerging and how to unleash the

power of intellectual capital in your firm. In this tough, volatile and very new business environment you're going to need this book."

-Don Tapscott, Chairman of the Alliance for Converging Technology and author of The Digital Economy

"Organizations are not well-oiled machines that operate by the numbers to produce predictable results. Instead, they are complex human

societies in microcosm. Stewart's insight into the deep dynamics of intellectual capital is the best possible guide as to why this shift of

perspective is so critical today."

-- Christopher Locke, co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto and author of Gonzo Marketing: Winning through Worst Practices

"Managing your company's knowledge assets is one of the keys to managing innovation, and Thomas Stewart once again shows us how it's done. If you care about intellectual capital--and you should --read this book. Then, lend it to your colleagues and your
boss." -- Tom Kelley, General Manager, IDEO, and author, The Art of Innovation

About the Author

THOMAS A. STEWART is a member of the Board of Editors of Fortune Magazine and a senior writer for Business 2.0. For the past six years, his column, "The Leading Edge" in Fortune was the most important forum about intellectual capital and knowledge management. His articles appear regularly in Fortune and Business 2.0. A fellow of the World Economic Forum, he is the author of the bestselling book Intellectual Capital (Currency), which was named one of the most important business books of the year by the Financial Times, and has been translated into seventeen languages. He lives in New York City.

About this edition

• Publisher: Crown
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0385500726
• ISBN 13: 9780385500722
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400