The Wealth of Knowledge

The Wealth of Knowledge takes the intellectual capital bull by the horns and reveals how we can move from intangible capital to real wealth.

In 1997 Thomas A. Stewart's book Intellectual Capital rocked the business community, arguing that in today's information economy the most important asset a company has was often not its tangible goods, its equipment, or its financial capital, but its intangible assets — its patents, the knowledge of its workers and the information in its computers' data banks. Since the book's publication, the critical importance of intellectual capital has been widely recognised by businesses around the globe.

In The Wealth of Knowledge, Stewart now shows how to apply the concept of intellectual capital to manage knowledge assets and gain a competitive edge in the 21st century. Companies can not just save but create hundreds of millions of dollars in new value by exploiting knowledge assets more creatively and managing them more efficiently. And in an Internet-linked, global economy, knowledge assets become more important than ever.

In addition to offering a practical roadmap on how to use knowledge assets more effectively, Tom Stewart's new book also extends the theory of intellectual capital. The emergence of a knowledge economy tests many of the assumptions on which we have based business in the 20th century. Why do companies exist? How should they be organised? How should people be compensated for their work? The book also plunges into the thick of the controversial and yet vital topic of measurement and accounting, which are increasingly difficult to quantify when a corporation's greatest assets are intangible.

A truly grand sequel to Stewart's seminal, original book, The Wealth of Knowledge reveals the hidden promise of intellectual capital, and helps chart a step-by-step course of action for corporations operating in the midst of today's knowledge economy.

• Foreword
• So Near…
• Part I: The Theory of a Knowledge Business
• Chapter 1: The Pillars of the Knowledge Economy
• Chapter 2: What Companies Do and Why They Exist
• Chapter 3: The E-corporation
• Part II: The Disciplines of a Knowledge Business
• Chapter 4: An Intellectual Capital Strategy: The Four-Step Process
• Chapter 5: Investing in Intellectual Capital: Working Knowledge Harder, Smarter, and Faster
• Chapter 6: The Case Against Knowledge Management
• Chapter 7: A New Offering: Selling Knowledge Products
• Chapter 8: A New Agenda: Managing Knowledge Projects
• Chapter 9: A New Design: Supporting Knowledge Processes 1: Processes That Create
• Chapter 10: A New Design: Supporting Knowledge Processes 2: Processes That Share
• Chapter 11: A New Culture: Developing a Knowledge Perspective
• Part III: The Performance of a Knowledge Business
• Chapter 12: The Human Capitalist
• Chapter 13: Generally Unacceptable Accounting Principles
• Chapter 14: Management Accounting for the Information Age
• Afterword
• …And Yet So Far

A compelling case for KM, from one of the most influential people in the subject. Very low on practicalities though.

It is also tainted by the admiring of Enron as well as of the dot.bomb economy, but it still contains some interesting thoughts.