One thing differentiates intellectual capital or knowledge assets from physical and financial assets, and that’s what economists call “rivalry” and “non-rivalry” assets. Physical assets are rival assets. Different users rival for the use of an asset. This asset cannot be used elsewhere at the same time. …Physical, human and financial assets are rival, or scarce, assets, where the scarcity is reflected by the cost of using the assets. On the other hand, intangible assets are non-rival assets. The use of an asset in one case does not prevent it from being used simultaneously by others in another case. …This is what some people call “scalability” or the ability, after you’ve made the first initial investment in intellectual capital, to scale it endlessly and enjoy increasing returns. And if you know how to work your market you can get huge value out of it. So this non-rivalry attribute of intangibles is the main thing that differentiates intangible assets from physical assets.
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