Discussion of “intangible investment and the importance of firm-specific factors in the determination of earnings”

Brown and Kimbrough (Review of Accounting Studies, 2011, this issue) examine the effect of intangible assets on the “uniqueness” of a firm’s earnings. The paper represents an important link between the strategy literature on firm organization and the accounting literature on the drivers of firm performance. This discussion reviews the relevant strategy literature and its link to the accounting literature, discusses various aspects of Brown and Kimbrough, and explores implications of Brown and Kimbrough’s findings.