Intangible Assets

Intangible assets are defined as non-monetary assets that cannot be seen, touched or physically measured. There are two primary forms of intangibles - legal intangibles, such as trade secrets, copyrights, patents, trademarks, goodwill, etc, and competitive intangibles, such as knowledge. Competitive intangibles directly impact effectiveness, productivity, and opportunity costs within an organization, which affects costs, revenues, customer satisfaction, share price, etc. Human capital is the primary source of competitive intangibles for organizations today.