There has been much debate about the measures HR should use to show whether their policies and initiatives are creating value for the company. Some recent research by Professor Alex Edmans at Wharton suggests it may not be so difficult. He shows that firms that are listed in the top Fortune 100 firms to work for in the US outperform others by creating a return on investment of 14% compared to 6% for those not listed. Edman admits that his study cannot isolate the factor that creates this increased return whether it is down to employee satisfaction or good management that creates the employee satisfaction. But he points out that does not really matter. This external measure of employee satisfaction is a guide to the importance of intangibles and inclusion on the Fortune list should be an indicator to investors of the quality of the return you can expect from the firm.

He also points out however that managers are still rewarded for short term success and that this is likely to dissuade them from taking the actions that result in these returns. He suggests managers should be rewarded with shares that only mature over an extended period, although this form of compensation in the investment banks has not seen a significant shift away from short term behaviour.

But it is the trend that this research indicates that should be of most interest to HR people.

Overall, Edmans's research is part of a broader shift among academics to develop new theories focused on the modern firm. "When I was at Morgan Stanley, we would value firms according to their tangible assets, cash flows and earnings -- which is common across most of Wall Street and much existing academic research," he says. "But nowadays, significant components of a firm's value cannot be captured by accounting numbers."

This is the opportunity for HR to provide the evidence that intangibles can create the difference in performance in the company.