The valuation of companies.
Companies currently have more value than can be reflected in their balance sheets and income statements, because in addition to the material resources they have and that due to their tangibility, they can be reflected in the accounting accounts; companies also have a value, which is determined by their knowledge, the image of their product, their relationships, among others.
In the current economy, the stock market value of a company rarely corresponds to the accounting valuation of its situation. The difference between the two measures corresponds to the valuation (if the market value is higher than the accounting valuation) or devaluation (if the market value does not exceed the company value) that the market makes of the potential for future benefits.
This valuation or not, that the market can make is partly based on the valuation it makes of the organization's intangible assets. The 1981 Nobel Prize in Economics, James Tobin, as a result of his research in this regard, proposes Tobin's Q, which is obtained by calculating: Market value / Book value. From this, it turns out that the difference between the result and 1 would represent the quality of the exploitation of its intangible assets.
Intangible assets are the part of value of a company that cannot be accounted for. International Accounting Standard 38 defines: Intangible Assets, “an intangible asset is characterized because it is an identifiable asset, without physical substance and that is intended to be used in the production or supply of goods or services, for leasing to third parties or for administrative purposes ”.
If we take into account that many successful companies today have book values up to 90% below the value with which they are listed on the stock exchange and that other companies with the same success, only have their own factories, machines, land and premises to carry out Their work, we understand why intangible assets take more value in companies with each passing day.
All these assets are closely linked to the people who make up the organization and who, through their experience, their relationships (internal and external), etc., create capital of great importance to the company. This capital that the organization has and which is made up of the intangible assets it possesses, is known as: intellectual capital.
In the current economic conditions where the use of information and knowledge are revealed as essential aspects to achieve competitive success, the ability of companies to manage, develop and control their intellectual capital is as important as asset management. tangible, since all sustainable economic results today are closely linked to the development of knowledge.
Intellectual capital
Although there are a large number of criteria on intellectual capital, the hierarchy of the elements that compose it, and the best ways to measure it, many authors agree that it consists of:
- Human capital: Knowledge, skills, creativity and ability to learn, which are possessed by the people and teams of the organization and which are useful for it. Structural capital: knowledge that the organization makes explicit, systematized and internalized, which is part of the organizational capacity and on which the organization's efficiency and effectiveness depend. Relational capital: it is determined by the set of relationships that the company maintains with the exterior.
Managing this intellectual capital to create value in the company is not determined by exploiting one of these factors, but rather by establishing an interaction between them, so that the result generated is the most appropriate for the organization.
How to measure intellectual capital.
The current management measurement systems, which are mainly based on accounting and financial aspects, have become obsolete due to the need to measure aspects such as innovation capacity, know-how, and customer loyalty, among others. Traditional control methods are not prepared to measure the value of human resources and other intangible values, such as the organization's competencies and skills.
But the main stumbling block that the instruments of control must pass is to find a way to account for these intangible assets, a situation that becomes really difficult with traditional accounting techniques if we consider that:
Until now, there is no generally accepted method for measuring Intellectual Capital, although the efforts and advances of researchers on the subject have been significant. The most recognized methods so far are those that use indicators to measure aspects that complement the financial ratios known up to now.
In the last decades, the trend of integrating these indicators into models that represent the relationships between different perspectives or areas of the companies is shown. Among them we can mention: Skandia Navigator and Balanced Scorecard (CMI).
All these methods have in common the use of indicators to measure the performance of the company. Although they try to be as exact as possible, their main objective is to carry out a comparative analysis that allows observing the trend of their evolution.
Both the Skandia Navigator and the CMI propose a set of indicators in which the first four methods are absorbed. The main contribution of these two instruments is that the company can relate the indicators that measure intellectual capital in a coherent way and in which the close relationship that exists between them is established.
For its part, the WCC, in addition to proposing elements to measure intellectual capital, endows the company with a strategic philosophy of causality in which each action has an effect on the organization and actions related to people are the ones that generate the most value Because they are the ones that develop that hidden part of the business value that corresponds to intangible assets.
The CMI and intangible assets.
The CMI is a model developed by Kaplan and Norton in 1992, with which it was intended to measure more efficiently the results obtained by the organization. Although in its primary form the CMI was only intended to be an instrument of control, currently part of its popularity is due to the fact that the CMI has been revealed as a powerful tool for the implementation of the strategy.
To achieve putting the strategy into action, the model integrates financial and non-financial indicators, grouped into four perspectives (Financial, Clients, Internal Processes and Learning and Growth) that try to describe the causal and logical relationship that takes place in the organization and whose interaction the business results are obtained.
One of the main contributions of the WCC is the development of a management model in which the financial situation is the result of decisions that have been made from other perspectives. The importance of financial performance is not undervalued in the model, but is complemented by other aspects of equal importance in the company.
Among these important aspects, there is the perspective of clients with which it is sought to evaluate the relations of the company with its clients and to identify the aspects that create value for them and that increase the competitive capacity of the company.
In the perspective of internal processes, it is a matter of evaluating the situation of the processes, with the main premise of obtaining customer satisfaction, which will subsequently translate into higher performance. In this perspective, the organization must decide the value proposition that it will make to its clients, taking into account the aspects that the clients value the most and the competences and trade of the organization.
As support and main engine of this model, the learning and growth perspective is proposed. Although this perspective is generally the least developed in companies, and many works obviate its great importance, it is actually the perspective that determines compliance with the previous ones. The competences of the personnel, the use of technology as a generator of value, the availability of strategic information that ensures optimal decision-making and the creation of an own cultural climate to strengthen the transformative actions of the business are objectives that allow the achievement of results in the three previous perspectives.
The importance of this perspective is evident when developing the causality chains of the business strategy, which is also one of the first steps in the elaboration of a CMI. Satisfied and capable employees develop processes of great value for customers, who repeat their purchases and, therefore, generate an increase in sales, a situation that has a favorable impact on the business financial situation.
In this apparently simple analysis, which is one of the main philosophies of the WCC, it is evident that people are the main source of real value creation in today's organizations.
Although the WCC has generated great expectations since its emergence due to the possibility it offers to follow up on strategies, its flexibility in the face of situations that may arise and that have not been contemplated in its implementation, and its adaptability to all types of organizations; in many occasions it is not possible to exploit its possibilities more than as a control system for indicators.
The objective of using a CMI is not only to establish an indicator and a measurement criterion for each of the objectives that have been defined in the strategy. The main sense is to establish the network of indicators that can best reflect the real value of the organization, including that of its intellectual capital and that allows business decision-making based on criteria that are more comprehensive than financial and accounting ones.
Approach to the problem in Cuba
Cuba does not have many material resources, Cuban oil is heavy and although in recent years an effort has been made to increase its extraction so as not to depend on external suppliers and the volatility of its prices, it is no less true that until now it has not been a resource in volume so significant that it can be exported. Laterite reserves are of great importance, but there is no technology for their full use. In this way, one could continue talking about other resources that for other countries constitute important foreign exchange earnings from exports. And then, what would be Cuba's main resource for its future development? Many people agree, and among them some management and competitiveness gurus, that the main resource is their human resources;resource that Cuba has widely.
This shared truth has not yet fully realized its potential. Disregarding the country's economic situation, using the economic principle of seteris paribus, there are greater possibilities of obtaining superior results if one can speak of the correct management of these resources. This is why looking for ways to improve the use of these resources has become a strategic issue for the country, as the only sustainable development solution.
To achieve the necessary development that is required in this area, it is necessary to stop conceiving workers as a mere part of the company. It is useless to change the concepts that refer to them (personnel, human resources, internal clients, intellectual capital), if they are not accompanied by a real change in our conception of them. That is why it is essential to change the methods of measuring the contribution that people make to the result of the company, as a first step to demonstrate the value that workers add to their work and the value of the company.
