Talk:Creative industries

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[edit] Measuring performance

I propose to delete the ==Measuring performance== section of the article because it contains nothing specific to creative industries. —Theo (Talk) 13:51, 22 July 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for raising this valid point. Rather than deletion, would you consider expanding the definition based on your own insight to make it specific? As a practitioner in this area I would say that we are only just beginning to understand how to measure performance for these kinds of industries. I'd welcome the input of another voice to develop this area of the definition Infilms (Talk)

Although I would live to do what you ask, I have no experience of measuring performance in creative industries. My work in that sector was outside that area and my experience of performance measurement is confined to sectors like financial services, manufacturing and retail. The performance measurement element of my MBA studies made no special case for creative industries. So, while I have travelled all round the edges, I have no specific knowledge of this topic. It is my opinion that no financial performance indicator is special to this sector, but I recognise that different specific success criteria may be applied uniquely here. In your opinion, how might performance measurement differ in these industries compared to other sectors? For example, in the book trade, readership is an indicator that complements units sold. —Theo (Talk) 10:32, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

I think these are critical questions. At Pembridge Partners we ask them each time we risk our hard-earned cash on an investment in this sector! After four years of doing that and our fair share of plums/lemons, I think the conclusion we're reaching is that, in pragmatic terms, it has to be possible to use general financial performance indicators to measure Creative Industries firms day to day, otherwise investors cannot compare 'apples with apples'. That said, we do feel what's been missing is an analysis of the actual benchmarks one might look for on those indicators and so that is where our current work is focussed. But we also have a hunch that there is another kind of measurement that may be missing as we seek to characterise the long term equity value of firms in this sector (which is of course what one is interested in as an investor). Many investors focus more or less exclusively on IP as the only true seat of value in a Creative Industries firm yet we've made good money investing in firms that have absolutely no IP such as PR firms. And of course developments like peer-to-peer filesharing threaten the value of business models built crudely on traditional visions of what IP can be anyway. So we think there's probably another, yet to be discovered way of looking at long term value (as opposed to day-to-day performance) that reflects the intriguing/challenging mix of goodwill and intellectual property that these firms frequently embody. How to calculate it? Not sure yet and very open to suggestions! Infilms (Talk)

I have been giving this some thought. My problem is that I can find no sources for effective non-financial measures in this area. (Note that I have not looked very hard). The quantification of reputation (I carefully avoid the accounting term "goodwill") seems to offer a real challenge and I conclude that it is yet to be a suitable encyclopedia topic (too close to original research/new ideas). —Theo (Talk) 14:01, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Thank you for these sound points. I agree that this is a topic of current research and indeed in my professional life I am just starting a thorough literature search on that very topic. I note Wikipedia:No original research and suggest that perhaps adding the important questions you have raised as a caveat to readers might be the best way forward? My preference would be to do this to reflect a NPV rather than deleting what insight can be articulated at this time - your call Infilms (Talk)

I believe that the well-known book of Caves (Creative Industries, 2000) can help in defining what is distinctive for the Creative industries. Although I do not totally agree with all of his arguments, some are really useful. For example, some properties (time flies, motley crew, A list B list, infinite variety, art for art's sake, nobody knows) and the use/variety of contracts are useful in understanding the business models within the Creative Industry. I also believe that the concept "authenticity" needs to be addressed, as it is relevant to many players within the creative industry to capture their value. --Thijs Broekhuizen 20:07, 4 August 2006 (UTC)