Alignment and agility: new dimensions for valuing and managing the intangible value of organisations

In the search for a global understanding of company valuation, we see a complex field of study, historically under the sway of an allegiance to neo-liberal finance. In the context of an economy that is evaporating into the immensity of the immaterial, the latter seems helpless in the face of the astronomical sums involved in mergers and acquisitions. The result is a crisis of model: more than half of these operations end in failure, resulting in monetary destruction and considerable social damage. Given this pitfall, the growing importance of goodwill - the black box of modern accounting - is cause for concern. It raises the need to decipher the gulf between book value and market value, a key factor in enabling investors to make informed decisions. The economic world, aware of the crucial contribution of intangible assets to wealth creation, is finally seeing managers wake up to this reality, albeit reluctantly and only recently. The emerging methodologies, however useful, are incomplete and unclear. They are in urgent need of revision, to incorporate the societal changes that have reshaped our lives over the last decade. In response, we need to develop a new approach - an open method - that takes into account the imperative of aligning Strategy, Profitability and Sustainability. A method which highlights the issues of Risk and Agility and which, transcending simple valuation, positions itself as an essential management tool.