In an article recently published in the Professional Journal of the Australian Marketing Institute, Rachel Olding describes in depth the divide between Marketing and Finance and how
“Intangible assets are the the reason marketers get out of bed in the morning”.
According to Olding, assets that make up brands, reputation and customer value are only slowly coming to the attention of other senior executives particularly in Australia.
Quantifying brand performance has senior marketers and finance executives fighting to grasp each other’s language and context.
“Quite simply, successful brands require effective marketing and financial management”
Major contributing factors to the communication gap are:
- A culture of departmental silos
- mistrust in the marketer’s measurement skills
- underestimation of the importance of brand from the senior management
- limited and fragmented relationships between departments
Olding goes on to cite two Australian business case studies illustrating her point that only a joint collaboration and coordination between Marketing and Finance achieves deeper brand equity.
She goes on to quote Prof. Don Schultz, who is summarizing the standard of Australian brand management as too little up-front investment in resource allocation and too much time spent on measuring past performance.
This is a very poignant article which is very appropriate to all firm sizes and industries across Australia. How often does your CFO/Accountant partner with the Managing Director, and the CMO/Marketing Manager/Coordinator in your business to discuss the next year in a brand panel?
What is innovation?
>>…is the process of converting knowledge and ideas into better ways of doing business or into new or improved products and services that are valued by the community. The innovation process incorporates research and development, commercialisation and technology diffusion. www.smartstate.qld.gov.au/strategy/strategy05_15/glossary.shtm
…a newly introduced practice or method intended to improve the current practice
www.mywhatever.com/cifwriter/library/66/4620.html
…introducing an object as if it were new.
oregonstate.edu/instruct/anth370/gloss.html
…Innovation is the process that translates knowledge into economic growth and social well-being. It encompasses a series of scientific, technological, organisational, financial and commercial activities. Research is only one of these activities and may be carried out at different phases of the innovative process.
www.arc.gov.au/general/glossary.htm
…All innovation begins with creative ideas . . . We define innovation as the successful implementation of creative ideas within an organization. …<<
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innovation
…Innovation in Organisations - assisting our Clients in identifying and managing innovation opportunities within their organisation.<<http://www.business.curtin.edu.au
Ambler & Neely (2007) pointed out that Marketing already has a robust platform as market connector and that therefore, cashflow forecasting and brand equity are indeed viable ‘measurable intangibles’ for ‘narrative accounting’ practices.
I think you agree, that the ‘innovation’ buzzword is another example of the ‘intangible asset’ murkiness which is lurking underneath the accounting and business process surface. What’s your ‘innovation’?
