This book brings together innovative contributions on the management of intellectual property (IP) and intellectual property rights by an esteemed and multi-disciplinary group of economists, management scientists, accountants and lawyers. Offering a broad and enlightening picture of the measurement and management of IP, the contributors argue that the shift towards a knowledge-based economy has increased the importance of IP and more generally, intangible assets, as a focus for company decision-making behaviour. The book explores these intangible assets, which are driven by investments in R&D, marketing, education and training, management information systems and organizational structure. The inherent risk in the development of such assets - born from the involvement of creativity and innovation - is also discussed. The Management of Intellectual Property should prove of use to both students of management and managers in the field who have to make decisions with regard to investments in, and the protection of, IP and other intangible assets.

Edmond Malinvaud This book provides a most welcome survey of what statisticians and economists know about an aspect of production that is difficult to precisely characterize but matters a lot for both its importance on economic performance and its social implications. That such a survey is timely cannot be overemphasized; the point is well argued in the introduction to the book, which shows how discussions of the last decades stressed the importance of capital operating time as an economic variable in a series of distinct but interrelated topics, from growth theory to employment policies. Nowadays still more than ever in the past, production not only requires capital as well as labour but also depends on varied and complex forms of work organization, which tie more or less closely to one another the uses of the two main factors. In industry and services labour needs many pieces of capital for efficient production, some operating permanently others assisting when needed. Many, even among the most modem equipments, cannot well function without constant guidance or control by human labour. The cost of interrupting some industrial processes is so high as to impose continuous operation. The timing for the provision of many services has to be patterned in accordance with the rhythms of activities or requirements of those demanding these services, and so on. This interplay is so complex that its particularities were, and still are most often, fully neglected in statistical information and in economic analysis.

This book presents findings and results from the recent European Union Company survey of Operating hours, Working times and Employment (EUCOWE) in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom. The EUCOWE-project is the first standardised company survey covering all sizes of firms and all sectors of the economy. It is the most comprehensive analysis yet published on Operating Hours, Capacity Utilisation, Working Times and Employment in the EU.