THE ANALYSIS OF INTANGIBLE
RESOURCES
Aaker (1989) identifies the route to sustainable
competitive advantage as being a process of
managing assets (intangible and tangible), and
skills, which involves the following three stages:
firstly the identification of the relevant assets and
skills by observing successes and failures; secondly
the selection of those assets and skills which will
be relevant to the future needs of the market;
and thirdly the implementation of programs
which will develop, enhance and/or protect these
assets and skills. Itami and Roehl (1987) suggest
that a key element of strategy is the management
of invisible assets (know-how, reputation etc.),
and he suggests that every turn of the business
cycle should add value to the know-how base of