While many senior executives continue to talk about the "voice of the customer," few demonstrate their commitment to this concept by spending time with customers. Many continue to use their intuition or `golden gut' in their attempt to provide superior customer value. Unfortunately, `senior executive intuition' is rarely attuned to the needs of their customers. While the competitive environment continues to intensify, executives have cut back on the time devoted to customers just when it should be increasing. This article discusses the need for senior executives to spend time with customers and provides examples of the benefits that this approach will provide.

Intellectual Capital (IC) is an important value driver in today's organizations. Although, IC reporting is receiving increasing attention from accountants in recent years, the innovativeness of the concept impedes IC from being fully incorporated in financial accounting reports as yet. At present, disclosure of IC-related information by companies is done on a voluntary basis, as applicable accounting regulations dictate the definition of a balance sheet and the assets to be included therein. Omission of IC-related information may adversely influence the decisions made by shareholders or lead to material misstatements. Only when companies provide IC statements on a large scale, we would be able to speak of a true reporting revolution in company valuation, both in theory and practice. This paper attempts to review some prominent internal and external measurement methods of IC. There is, no doubt, a tremendous need for homogenization in the field of KM and IC. First of all, a solid theoretical base should be achieved in order to advance in the field. Parallel with this, future research should focus on the development of IC guidelines and their international harmonization. Additionally, researchers should analyze IC reports published by pioneer firms from around the world, to gather the best-learning experiences. With this international insight, firms could be advised on how to introduce a new dimension in transparency that will strengthen its organizational governance.

The growth in interest surrounding Intellectual Capital (IC) has occurred commensurating with the rise of ‘virtual’ corporations and a flourishing service industry. For these businesses, intangible assets are the ‘core’ assets that drive
business success in today’s challenging climate. The main problem, however, is that they are difficult to measure due to their very intangibility, and when knowledge is transferred to another person or organization, the originator has not lost it. Another difficulty is that of understanding the ‘interaction’ between the different elements of IC and how they contribute to a firm’s financial results, in both short- and long-term. Several studies in the past had shown that future growth is determined not by ‘historical’ financial accounts alone, but by factors, such as management skills, innovation capability, brands, and the collective know-how of the workforce. Consequently, more and more organizations are starting to address the measurement and management of intangible assets, such as, knowledge and IC.

Intellectual Capital Reporting: Concepts and Key Methodologies, Intellectual Capital (IC), organizations, financial accounting, shareholders, international harmonization, businesses, intangible assets, management, workforce, management skills, innovation capability.