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Title: Cracking the Value Code: How Successful Businesses Are Creating Wealth in the New Economy by Barry D. Libert, Steve M. Samek, Richard E. S. Boulton ISBN: 0-06-662063-5 Publisher: HarperBusiness Pub. Date: 02 May, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.00

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Average Customer Rating: 3.54 (13 reviews)

Rating: 3
Summary: Reporting True Value
Comment: The authors argue that accounting and financial professionals must find ways of valuing intangible assets and reevaluating tangible ones and decrease their time to reporting. The New Economy demands more information to judge the operations of public companies and this Value Dynamics Framework is one vision of a new reporting methodology. Their thesis makes a lot of sense but it will probably be a few years (or decades) before reporting reaches this level. If every professional read this book, we might be able to make it happen sooner.

Rating: 3
Summary: Lacks Depth
Comment: Summary:
Arthur Andersen's Value Dynamics framework, published in the book Cracking the Value Code: How Successful Businesses Are Creating Wealth in the New Economy, differentiates the firm from other consultants who continue to use methods that focus only on tangible assets. The "Value Dynamics Framework" provides a context for viewing the ways that organizations create value by combining and recombining different types of assets. This book is about what creates value for businesses and the customers they serve. The core of this book is about the expansion of the meaning of traditional sources of wealth --- land (physical assets), labor (employee and supplier assets), and capital (financial assets) --- and the addition of customer and organizational assets. The main theme that the authors are trying to get across is that while conventional accounting practices only encompass tangible assets in the balance sheet, it is important to recognize and leverage on the intangible assets that are largely ignored. The authors' reports are based on the results of consulting experience and studies from their position as partners with Arthur Andersen. The authors provide with some really interesting examples and case studies. For example how to quantify ability to assimilate new companies and new technologies (which Microsoft tends to do so well)? Or how to quantify customer and employee loyalty? One of the interesting concepts of this book is using the customer as an asset. This book uses the example of Charles Schwab and its amazing ability to attract and retain customers. It also delves into the critical element of replenishment cost. The authors draw analogy of the five assets of an organization to that of the DNA on the basis of four amino acids. The five assets namely Physical, Financial, Organizational, Labor and Customer are the main key areas where the author wants to generate value. This book highlights the need to acknowledge intangible assets such as leadership and creates a framework according to, which these intangibles can be assessed. While stimulating and thought provoking, this book unfortunately has some week points. While examples emphasize successful management of one or more assets and do a good job in showing how this might lead to the market success, it doesn't show that other companies failed by neglecting and trying to do the same thing. Another weak point stems from the intangible use of one of the themes - that the five assets discussed represent a kind of DNA code for business. It is never clarified how the processes used by DNA to reproduce itself or to evolve over the time are analogous in any way to the processes by which firms turns combinations of assets into profits. I think the analogy on the surface is ostentatious. In conclusion, the authors write in an enjoyable consultant style manner with many real world examples as its strength, spread over a wide array of topics like a sheet of frozen ice but lacks depth.

Rating: 2
Summary: Albeit simple, a transparent marketing ploy
Comment: I read this book with great enthusiasm because I concur with the authors premise. Namely, to be successful in the future, companies must effectively, measure, report, and manage their intangible assets. However, while attempting to offer sage advice, the authors support their theory with a colorful series of pseudo-case studies that are, at best, dated information and, at worst, incomplete. For example, the authors position Priceline.com, Lucent Technologies, ... as examples of "thought and practice leaders" in the new economy. One only needs to look at their collective stockprices over the past year to see that these companies have not avoided powerful downward market realities. Even the oft cited darling of Wall Street, FDX Corporation, is included as a "technology leader" with their package tracking system serving as their "single greatest competitive advantage." This simply ignores the reality that United Parcel Service (UPS) their biggest competitor delivers and electonically tracks more parcels around the world in one day than FDX does in one week. What gives? In the end, the authors offer some "structure" for how to optimize your intangible assets...the kicker is that when you ask the question "How do I do it for my company?" you are left with a most unsatisfying "it depends." In effect, the folks at Andersen leave you with their business cards and suggest that you call them so they can figure it out for you.

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