This article will help inform readers on a method of building the intellectual capital of a Catholic family business.

Annie Brooking wrote a book entitled, "Intellectual Capital: Core Asset for the Third Millenium Enterprise". In this book, she defines intellectual capital to mean: customer loyalty, the ability to collaborate with business partners, intellectual property, electronic infrastructures and the innovative potential and know-how of employees.

This definition of intellectual capital has been made from the context of big enterprises and corporations. For the Catholic family business, this can be simplified and translated in terms that Catholic family enterprises can be able to operate on. Even if the Catholic family business is a small business enterprise, there is a flexible advantage and greater freedom to the way these family enterprises can build their intellectual capital. This dimension is positively accentuated even more, especially if the Catholic value-system were incorporated into the ethics of the family business.

If we were to translate the elements of intellectual capital given above for a small business enterprise such as a Catholic family business, we can simplify it to mean:

• Building greater customer loyalty
• Maintaining and improving good relationships with banks and financial institutions
• Constantly organizing and updating better computer systems
• Increasing the innovative know-how of every member of the extended Catholic family system

A Catholic family business need not serve only Catholics, although there is an advantage if the customers are from the same parish as the family business members and shares also the same faith-experiences as they do. But whether the Catholic family business serves Catholics and/or non-Catholics, the key to building customer loyalty is uniquely based in making the family as the context of serving the individual customer or client. What is therefore unique in making customers loyal to the Catholic family business is to treat them not only as individuals, but also as a vital part and element of his or her family. Most especially for every Catholic, what matters a lot to his or her heart, is their family. Therefore, if the Catholic family business shows concern not only for the needs of its clients individually, but also sees them in view of their relationship and their key role and service to their families, the family business enterprise will definitely win their hearts and their loyalty.

Catholics, in general, have a formal attitude of respect towards institutions such as banks and financial corporations. Because Catholicism has the tradition of instilling the noble desire to exude excellence in every action and deed, there is indeed a great advantage if members of the Catholic family business always work and act to improve and maintain good relationships with the banks and financial institutionsk, who help them in the operations of the Catholic family business. And the way this can be accomplished, is by continuously being up-to-date in all obligations and in whatever needs to be done, to fulfill the requirements and deadlines that are part of the family business operations. If all financial records with these institutions are always in order, then this will ensure goodwill on both sides of the financial relationship and help the Catholic family enterprise in its long-term operations.

We are really in the age of information and technology. Information and technology are objectively good, especially if they are used for progressing the economic situation and financial condition of the Catholic family business. And one way to do this is to continuously upgrade the computer systems of the family enterprise. Also, having a web site is very advantageous, because the enterprise can create more opportunities for communication, marketing, and advertising. Aside from this, the family business can also create an internal electronic infrastructure which can facilitate business communications and transactions. This internal electronic infrastructure can simply mean a network of pages in the web site that incorporates all contacts, addresses, email accounts, web sites and link resources that will help family members operate the Catholic family business. Or it could also mean creating a workgroup for two or more computer systems.

Building the innovative know-how of everyone in the Catholic family business is potentially expansive, because of the flexibility and generally open structure of the family enterprise. On an ideal scenario, if everyone in the extended family system were to even have his or her own business, then the information that each one accumulates is enough to create a pool of intellectual capital - big enough so that each member of the extended family system can draw the needed information in order to solve the problems of each one's business. Usually, this pool of intellectual capital already has its roots in the tradition of the family's Catholic value system and the family's traditional business ethics, especially if the Catholic family has a history of business in their clan, heritage and ancestry. This "wisdom" in the intellectual pool of the family's business heritage often is being handed down from generation to generation. In corporate language, they would call these "trade secrets" in the company's historical tradition. In Catholic family business language, these are just the wisdom the family has gained through the years of running their family enterprise. It is this original pool of intellectual capital that is constantly building up more and more information, as every member of the extended Catholic family adds on his current and new knowledge or expertise to the business know-how of the entire family business network. Because members of the younger generation in the Catholic family business have the advantage of drawing greater sources of information through computer technology, the contemporary Catholic family business is able to progress greatly in building its pool of intellectual capital. The younger members of the family business, who often have graduated from excellent and well-established Catholic universities that provide good business programs and incorporate a lot of technological know-how, are able to invigorate and bring more vitality and dynamism to the building up of the intellectual capital of the family business. This excellent education is needed in order for the Catholic family business to not only thrive, but prosper, in the very competitive and difficult globalized economic forces and environments. What is good about this Catholic education is that it is able to guide Catholic families into building their family enterprises according to the teachings of the Catholic Church.

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