Corporate Longitude: What You Need to Know to Navigate the Knowledge Economy

**It is wise to have some idea of where you are going.** **In the knowledge economy it's equally important to be prepared to change direction at a moment's notice.**

In 1675, King Charles II of England set up the Royal Observatory, tasked with finding a method of accurately determining longitude at sea. *A similar challenge currently faces the business world.*

Modern corporations habitually calibrate along a single measure: a financial one. This is corporate latitude. The trouble is that it only gives part of the picture, only half of the co-ordinates required to know their precise location and to map out the route to their destination. Without a practicable method for measuring corporate longitude - a measurement for intellectual capital - companies are unable to locate their true position or chart a meaningful course.

Intellectual capital is a combination of human capital - the brains, skills, insights and potential of those in an organisation - and structured capital - wrapped up in customers, processes, databases, brands and systems. It is the only meaningful way to gauge the potential energy of a company.

*Corporate Longitude* provides a way to measure these intangibles as well as the financial facts, and to navigate accurately through the turbulent waters of business.

With the rise of the knowldge economy, the search for corporate longitude is on. The the founding guru of intellectual capital knows where to find it, and here provdes a compass for the entrepreneurial knowledge leader. Find out how intelligent enterprising will set apart the new navigators of knowldge markets. *"Our journey in Corporate Longitude has a number of important markers. The first is that I believe there is a new commercial reality -- knowledge economics -- which transforms the concept of value and of value creation. Intangibles, such as intelligence, brands, trust and networks, are the driving force of knowledge economics.* *The rise of knowledge economics highlights a mismatch between current financial reporting systems and intellectual assets - these I see as akin to corporate latitude and corporate longitude. One without the other gets us nowhere."* Leif Edvinsson