ABSTRACT
The research about intangible assets (IA) has always been much grounded in practice, and somewhat guided by it. In their literature review, Petty and Guthrie show that some innovative practitioner's interest in the topic of IA, and their need for IA management tools, had a relevant role in pushing the academy to take the issue seriously. In the early period of the IA movement, most research effort was devoted to the definition of usable management tools for visualising and measuring intangible assets and intellectual capital, and to establish the legitimacy and the relevance of the topic. The critical discourse about the new organisational practice should at least be considered as a warning for IA researchers. Management in the new economy requires new passwords, new rhetoric forms, new languages, and new ways of affirming itself as a major source of organisational and strategic rationality.
