BOOK REVIEW: The importance of corporate image, and PR’s role in achieving it. Invisible Advantage: How Intangibles are Driving Business Performance By Jonathan Low and Pam Cohen Kalafut A provocative and ultimately convincing thesis, in which Low and Kalafut point to a dozen different intangibles that have a major impact on corporate performance: leadership, strategy, communications, brand, reputation, alliances and networks, technology, human capital, workplace culture, innovation, intellectual capital, and adaptability. Public relations professionals have a direct involvement in managing communications, brand, and reputation, but they play an equally vital role in several other areas. Low and Cohen Kalafut believe that "what companies can fall back on are precisely those assets and competencies that are hardest for competitors to emulate: an ability to innovate; adaptability…as market conditions change; dedicated, loyal, well-trained employees; a powerful brand; a sterling reputation; and systems…that can provide customers what they want, when they want it." "This is one bandwagon that business people would be well advised to climb on, and the sooner the better. In the intangibles economy, transparency provides an invisible advantage… The more information you provide (within reason), the more intelligent will be the response of those you hope will lend you money, invest in your equities, seek you out as a customer, or accept you as a supplier." It is vital that public relations and investor relations people start telling the story of their companies’ intangible assets, explaining to stakeholders—including shareholders—what the company is doing to manage invisible assets and why. Available at www.amazon.com

PR Influences Australian Public Relations Newsletter. Article: PR Book: Invisible Advantage: How Intangibles are Driving Business Performance. Information Content: Book Reviews & Information