INTANGIBLE ASSETS. Intangible assets is comprised of Goodwill and other intangibles which are amortized over 3-20 years.
INTANGIBLE ASSETS. Xxxxxx and Xxxxxx (1996) used the concept of intangible assets for the first time The same authors defined intangibles as the skills, competencies and motivation of employees; databases and information technologies; efficient and responsive operating processes; innovation in products and services; customer loyalty and relationships; political, regulatory, and societal approval. A couple of years later, Xxxx and Xxxxxxxxxxx (2005) assessed several definitions of intellectual capital (IC) and noted that the definitions of IC vary with the different management perspectives. First of all, the Accounting community defined intangible assets as non-monetary assets without physical substance. An asset is a resource that is controlled by the enterprise as a result of past events and from which future economic benefits are expected (IASB, 2004). Second, the Human Resource community refers to skills, knowledge and attitudes of employees when talking about IC. The Marketing perspective looks at intangibles such as brand recognition and customer satisfaction as the heart of business success. Finally, the IT-sector sees intangibles as software applications and network capabilities. Vergauwen et al. (2007) divide intellectual capital into four somehow equal parts: Structural capital, Human capital, Relational capital and Intellectual property. Although the different definitions of intangible assets, and the results of these differences would be an interesting theme for a graduation paper, it is not the intention of this thesis to elaborate this matter. Therefore, in the following paragraphs, some definitions are just briefly described. For more extensive literature I would like to refer to other literature like Xxxxxxxxxx (2004), Xxxxxxxx et al. (2002), Marr (2005), et cetera. For the purpose of this paper intangible assets are defined in accordance with Xxxxxxx et al. (2006) as follows: Notice that in this paper the terms intangible resources, intellectual capital, knowledge-based resources and intangibles will be used interchangeable, which is in line with Xxxxxxx and Xxxxx (2005). When a definition is set, intangible assets can be divided into several categories. Again this has been done by many researchers, resulting in different classifications. Fortunately these categories are in most of the cases quite similar. For the purpose of this thesis, I will define the classifications in accordance with Xxxxxxx et al. (2006) specifically for universities: