Managing intangible assets – a question of integration and delicate balance

The relevance of intangible assets for financial performance is getting more widely accepted. There is also some convergence about the conceptual structure of intangibles. What has not been underlined enough yet is the synergic nature of different types of intangibles. In this paper, it is argued, in the light of a case study of nine Finnish companies, that the intangibles form a value chain of generative and commercially exploitable intangibles. Furthermore, it is argued that each company at each time has an emphasis on a certain type of intangibles, sometimes even neglecting others. The paper seeks to propose that it is important to identify the primary intangibles and their current relationships with other forms of intangibles. The management of intangibles is hence a matter of integration and delicate balance.