Leif Edvinsson

VBM Thought Leader: Leif Edvinsson

Corporate Longitude - What you need to know to navigate the knowledge economy

Leif Edvinsson Corporate Longitude

About Leif Edvinsson: biography / resume / curriculum vitae

Leif Edvinsson is Adjunct Professor of Intellectual Capital, at the Lund University, Sweden 2001. Inspirator and CEO of Universal Networking Intellectual Capital, Global Knowledge Nomad and winner of the prestigious Brain of the Year award for 1998. Leif Edvinsson is a leading expert on Intellectual Capital (IC). As former vice president and the worlds first corporate director of Intellectual Capital at Skandia of Stockholm, Sweden, Leif Edvinsson has been a key contributor to the theory of IC and oversaw the creation of the world's first corporate Intellectual Capital Annual Report. During 1996 he has been awarded both by American Productivity and Quality center, USA as well as Business Intelligence, UK, for his pioneering work on IC. Mr. Edvinsson formerly was senior vice president for training and development of S-E Bank, and president and chairman of Consultus AB, a Stockholm-based consulting company.

In light of his work in both training and Intellectual Capital, Leif Edvinsson has been a special advisor on service trade to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He is also special adviser to the Swedish Cabinet on the effects of the new digital economy, A special advisor to the United Nations International Trade Center and is a co-founder of the Swedish Coalition of Service Industries.

Mr. Leif Edvinsson holds an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author for numerous articles on the service industry and on Intellectual Capital. He is a regular speaker before such organizations as the BBC, CIO, Conference Board, Economist, Handelsblatt, Insead, IMD and the American Productivity and Quality Center. He is listed in Who is Who in the world. In March 1997 he launched together with Michael S. Malone the book on Intellectual Capital "Realizing Your Company's True Value by Finding Its Hidden Brainpower". In January 1998 Edvinsson won the prestigious award Brain of the year in competition with e.g. Bill Gates and Paul McCartney. Edvinsson follows in the footsteps of illustrious former winners such as Garry Kasparov (World Chess Champion), Professor Stephen Hawking and the Poet Laureate Ted Hughes. In 2000 also listed on top 20 list of Most Admired Knowledge Leaders in the world. One of the worlds most well-known thinkers on Knowledge Management and Intellectual Capital. Leif Edvinsson is Professor in Intellectual Capital at Lund University and the originator of the Skandia Navigator framework (a 1992 tool facilitating the categorization of intangibles piloted at Skandia, a Swedish Financial Services company).

human intellectual capital knowledge economy Corporate Longitude once more links the value of human and intellectual capital into measurement and valuation and economic results.

Can 1 + 1 = 11 in realizing corporate value?

In this at times brilliant book, Edvinsson says YES, uncovering the hidden values of Intellectual Capital, resulting in corporate longitude besides corporate latitude (financial perspective).

Corporate Longitude of Leif Edvinsson is brimming with original insights and fresh perspectives. The book on the value of human and intellectual capital takes you in unexpected directions with unexpected imagery and unexpected conclusions. The writing style of this book offers an insight into the author's genius: he understands the human mind and its tendency to reduce complex ideas into simple, linear and often erroneous patterns.

Central to Corporate Longitude is the metaphor of the compass, an instrument that helps us know where we are.

In the light of:

- the current crisis in the accounting world,

- the market's difficulty in deciding what a company should be worth, and

- the arrival of the knowledge economy,

Corporate Longitude of Leif Edvinsson suggests that current valuation models are flawed and present only a small part of the reality. As a result, accountants and analysts alike are sailing the seas with latitude data but no longitude data. A firm's intellectual capital is unaccounted for.

We recommend this book to anybody wanting to think over the value of human and intellectual capital and the consequences of the knowledge economy for a corporation, people involved in valuing corporations, valuation experts, stock analysts and, last but not least, to senior executives working in the field of Value Based Management and Corporate Strategy.

Also compare: Skandia Navigator Leif Edvinsson | Standfield, Intangible Management | Lev, Intangibles: Management, Measurement, and Reporting | Smith, Valuation of Intellectual Property and Intangible Assets | Freeman, Corporate Strategy and the Search for Ethics | Intangible Assets Monitor IAM Sveiby | IC-Rating Intellectual Capital Sweden

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