Book Review: Harvesting Intangible Assets by Andrew Sherman

Blaire Jones September 25, 2011 Tweet

Consider, for a moment, all the roles that you play as an entrepreneur. Innovator, manager, marketer, enthusiast, salesman, strategist—the list goes on forever, but does it include farmer? If it doesn’t, it will by the time you finish reading Harvesting Intangible Assets.

Entrepreneurs are a special kind of farmers—new agrarians, planning, planting, nurturing and cultivating, preparing to harvest, and often, betting the whole farm to make sure that yield is maximized and shipped to market at the perfect time. But, in the move to market, sometimes value is left withering on the vine. For companies, the wasted metaphorical fruit is often intellectual property.

In his new book, Andrew J. Sherman, strategic growth and intellectual property expert, explains how to make the most of intangible assets while creating a culture of innovation. Harvesting is filled with examples about how companies of all sizes including Apple, Cisco, Dow Chemical, Jiffy Lube, Proctor & Gamble, Walmart and 3M leveraged their intangible assets to increase revenue and provides a wealth of strategic and tactical guidance for readers to:

• Plant the seeds of innovation by empowering employees to let down their guards and risk failure without fear—or dire financial loss to the company.

• Master Intellectual Asset Management—a comprehensive system for creating, organizing, prioritizing, and extracting value from their company’s assets.

• Develop a legal strategy to protect their key intellectual and creative assets, with a firm grasp on patents, copyrights, trademarks, service marks, and trade dress.

• Excel at creating and launching new products and services without betraying their trusted brand reputation or alienating their established customer base.

• Adopt a business model to sustain innovation and leverage its financial rewards, with highlights of cooperatives, channel partners, licensing, joint ventures, and franchising.

Sherman has spent more than 30 years helping companies reap what they sow.  Interested in bringing out your own IP agrarian? Harvesting Intangible Assets is available on Amazon.