Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Intellectual ...

Helen Mitchell and Dennis Viehland
behaviour between some business units. However, it was felt this issue could be worked through
relatively quickly.
Accountability featured strongly in responses. In <strong>the</strong> smaller and flatter business units ideas that
would never previously have been recognised were being implemented and returning rewards.
Employees emphasised <strong>the</strong> difference made as a result <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> setting up <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> business units. There
was greater cohesion within each unit, employees had taken on more responsibility and recognised
<strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> accountability.
Empowerment <strong>of</strong> staff was also pointed to as providing benefit and opportunity, specifically from a
financial perspective. Better behaviours had emerged around <strong>the</strong> use <strong>of</strong> working capital and <strong>the</strong>
requesting <strong>of</strong> capital, e.g. projects costing around a million dollars were being undertaken for
substantially less cost because people were looking more carefully at how to raise <strong>the</strong> funds ra<strong>the</strong>r
than seeing capital as something <strong>the</strong>y could just take from <strong>the</strong> big pool. What was now occurring was
a more collective view <strong>of</strong> what created value and what did not. Ano<strong>the</strong>r financial perspective was <strong>the</strong>
point that money was being saved through examining innovative ways about <strong>the</strong> operation <strong>of</strong> a
business unit, and methods for getting on track by taking ownership. Previously ideas put to <strong>the</strong>
organisation were ranked according to <strong>the</strong> value <strong>the</strong>y would generate, and smaller ideas were
ignored. With <strong>the</strong> dividing up <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> organisation, <strong>the</strong> business unit with <strong>the</strong> smaller idea could now run
with an idea and results were generating considerable value relative to <strong>the</strong> unit. As a result
opportunities to be innovative were stronger and people were becoming more involved in <strong>the</strong>
initiatives. Recognition <strong>of</strong> value created by people in turn led to greater personal development and <strong>the</strong>
restructuring was creating a real drive for success.
Products and services had improved and increased and process changes were made as a result <strong>of</strong>
ideas promoted by staff. Enthusiasm for what was occurring came through very strongly with
considerable support for staff and <strong>the</strong> ideas promoted from all levels, and also from customers. A
respondent provided a good example <strong>of</strong> how a considerable improvement in <strong>the</strong> service it <strong>of</strong>fered was
achieved by addressing <strong>the</strong> problem <strong>of</strong> lead-time. Ideas promoted by staff resulted in reducing <strong>the</strong>
time to customer from weeks to days even in <strong>the</strong> busiest season. The same business unit also
indicated changes had been made to products, and new patents registered. A number <strong>of</strong> innovative
ideas put forward were directed towards processes, and <strong>the</strong>y had led to considerable refinement and
improvement to <strong>the</strong> many operational areas, bringing considerable benefit.
Responses pointed to six <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> nine business units having no process for managing intellectual
property saying that where relevant <strong>the</strong> patent attorneys managed <strong>the</strong> patent process. However, one
business unit had made a start into taking greater control <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir intellectual property and daily
contact was made with <strong>the</strong> intellectual property lawyers over patenting issues and renewals and this
had resulted in a management system being put in place to keep track <strong>of</strong> what was happening, and
for checking through existing files to verify currency and use <strong>of</strong> patents. Considerable discussion
around <strong>the</strong> area <strong>of</strong> intellectual property emerged during <strong>the</strong> interviews. Recognition <strong>of</strong> its importance
to <strong>the</strong> business units was acknowledged, but <strong>the</strong>re was uncertainty about what should be done and
how it could be managed. Generally, <strong>the</strong> business units were not recognising <strong>the</strong> value <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir
intellectual property and were losing out on <strong>the</strong> opportunity to maximise value from it. Results and
comments are shown below in Table 1.
4. Conclusion
The purpose <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> research was to investigate whe<strong>the</strong>r wealth generation through <strong>the</strong> development
<strong>of</strong> innovations was attributed to <strong>the</strong> management <strong>of</strong> intellectual capital. In <strong>the</strong> Annual Report <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong>
organisation selected for <strong>the</strong> study acknowledgement was made <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> knowledge <strong>of</strong> employees and
<strong>the</strong> contribution <strong>the</strong>y make to <strong>the</strong> innovative activities <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> business. A year prior to <strong>the</strong> study <strong>the</strong>
organisation restructured from six divisions into a number <strong>of</strong> business units with a view to enabling
each unit to focus on business opportunities related to its specific domain.
Considerable recognition is given by various authors (e.g. Penrose, 1963; Rastogi, 2003; Steenkamp
and Kashyap, 2010) that value is generated from <strong>the</strong> innovations developed by businesses
responding to <strong>the</strong> needs <strong>of</strong> customers. The organisation in <strong>the</strong> study has a reputation for being
innovative and its strategy was to fur<strong>the</strong>r enhance its innovative <strong>of</strong>ferings not only to meet <strong>the</strong> needs
<strong>of</strong> customers but also to increase its wealth potential. The importance <strong>of</strong> managing intellectual capital
for generating wealth is emphasised by a number <strong>of</strong> authors (e.g. Sveiby, 1997; Rastogi, 2003; Varis
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