Employees contribute both tangible value (actual revenue) and intangible assets (your personal abilities to create value and find money), so direct-revenue-generators and all other employees can contribute in important financial ways to the company.

FORBES: Pink Slip Or Promotion -- The Choice Is Yours

Whereas tangible assets like plant and equipment drove a company's value during much of the past century, intangible assets such as brands, patents and trademarks are what create value today.

FORBES: Name Game

He quotes bankers who say that such a guarantee might encourage more banks to lend to growth companies based on the value of their intangible assets, because the guarantee would remove much of the risk for banks.

FORBES: An Untapped Source of Entrepreneurial Financing

At the start of this century, it was estimated that intangible assets could account for as much as half of the value of the entire American economy.

ECONOMIST: The ultimate measure by which a company is judged

The contribution that four important intangible assets--reputation, innovation, management and human capital--make to a company's market value is deemed to be its corporate brand value.

FORBES: Beyond the balance sheet.