An investigation shows that investors suffer when firms stop giving quarterly earnings guidance.

In this series Baruch Lev, of NYU's Stern School of Business, alerts us to potentially hidden sources of value in our organizations - the intangibles. As the value of these assets become an increasingly important component of total value, management must understand how to not only maximize their value, but also how to communicate it to capital markets.

As Lev explains in Episode 1, intangibles are those assets that are not physical in nature - they are derived from the knowledge an organization holds. Assets such as patents, brands, processes, investments in employee training, and risk sharing agreements are all very difficult to measure. By following Lev's strategies for managing (Episode 2) and measuring (Episode 3) these assets, we can increase overall corporate value.