... distributorscan make a company, and disloyal ones can break a company. Where isknowledge and intellectual capital value? Patents, copyrights, trade-marks, and licenses can be one of the company’s major ... physical property can be a liability. All a company needs is access tophysical assets. To operate as a lean company may call for decapitaliz-ing—outsourcing activities and shrinking working capital. ... tomanage innovation better than your competitors. Innovation andimagination must be made into a capability, as it is at 3M, Sony, Ca-sio, Lexus, Braun, and Honda. These companies have been called“product...