The company uses a nine-box grid system to measure each employee's performance and potential, and it offers developmental courses to bring employees up to speed on certain issues. The categories measured include leadership ability, how an employee fits into the Home Depot culture, financial acumen and project management capabilities. But making sure employees are happy in order to retain them is only one way to manage intellectual capital. Building Knowledge For its part, Home Depot posts a bulletin on its intranet with quick references on topics such as how to repair a leaky toilet or build a deck. That way, knowledge is available for employees to remain up to speed and to pass such information along to customers.
Patents enter the picture as a more familiar way to protect a form of intellectual capital.
But the demand for patents is outpacing the rate at which they can be evaluated and issued, according to Diganta Majumder and Imran Shah at Zefer Corp., a Boston-based consulting firm. In December, Majumder and Shah hosted a panel discussion on how advances in digital technology are affecting product distribution in the entertainment industry. Their case in point was the controversy surrounding Napster and the way the site allows users to download music through the Internet free of charge. The panel also discussed ways in which film and other industries might be affected by emerging technologies. Along with experts in the entertainment and Internet security fields, Majumder and Shah discussed future business trends and the need for standards and coalitions to protect intellectual capital.