Edison in the Boardroom Revisited: How Leading Companies Realize Value from Their Intellectual Property, Second Edition

Chapter 7

Level Five: Shape the Future

Companies that have achieved Level Five have come to understand the highest level of use for their IP as well as for their other intangibles. They look beyond defense, costs, and profits to focus on how IP can be used to shape the future of their company. At this level, the firm’s IP and other intangibles are important tools to use in molding a desired future for the company. IP becomes more than a strategic asset, it becomes an enabling one. Companies at Level Five realize that their future can be defined within a limited set of parameters, and that progress toward that defined future can be managed (see Figure 7.1).

Figure 7.1 Level Five of the Value Hierarchy