Philip Vergauwen, Laury Bollen and Els Oirbans
This paper aims to study the relationship between intellectual capital disclosures (ICDs) and the relative importance of intangible assets as company value drivers.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to study the relationship between intellectual capital disclosures (ICDs) and the relative importance of intangible assets as company value drivers.
Design/methodology/approach
Annual reports of Swedish, British and Danish firms are analysed to measure the extent of ICD. The level of intellectual capital (IC) in firms, measured with proxies for the categories of human, structural and relational capital.
Findings
As to the components of IC, the empirical results indicate that there is a strong significant positive relationship between (the level of) structural capital possession of a firm and the firm's ICD.
Practical implications
This suggests that firms with a relatively high level of structural capital, disclose more information on IC in the annual report. The study found no such significant association between human and relational capital in firms and ICD regarding these items. Firms might have a transparency drawback in addressing these issues in the reports when these IC categories are relatively of greater importance for firms.
Originality/value
The paper provides evidence for the argument that firms focus their ICD on those IC elements that are most relevant for the company's value creation process.
Details
Keywords
Ching Choo Huang, Michael Tayles and Robert Luther
The purpose of this paper is to explore several contingency variables, namely environmental uncertainty, business strategy, technological advancement, market to book ratio, size…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore several contingency variables, namely environmental uncertainty, business strategy, technological advancement, market to book ratio, size, profitability and industry type in the context of management accounting and the availability of internal intellectual capital (IC) information.
Design/methodology/approach
A questionnaire was developed and posted to the managers of Malaysian companies. A multiple regression statistical technique was employed to analyse the data.
Findings
It is found that business strategy and technological advancement of customer service relate positively to the availability of internal IC information in Malaysian companies.
Research limitations/implications
The relatively small response of usable replies to the questionnaire survey is a limitation of this paper. The finding implies that companies with more internal IC information are more likely to be those of product differentiators and those who have undergone technological advancement of customer service. Malaysian companies tend to have a strong customer orientation and place great emphasis on managing customer capital (CC). Future research can investigate the types of IC information used by Malaysian managers to manage their CC.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature as it examines the relationship between context and IC within a contingency theory framework. Unlike other research which relates to external IC disclosures with firm‐specific variables, this research links contingency factors to internal IC information from related fields (management accounting and external IC reporting).
Details
Keywords
Carlos Maria Jardon and Amandio Dasilva
Small businesses created as a subsistence activity (subsistence small businesses (SSBs)), often are oriented towards the short term. The environmental performance, by contrast, is…
Abstract
Purpose
Small businesses created as a subsistence activity (subsistence small businesses (SSBs)), often are oriented towards the short term. The environmental performance, by contrast, is an indicator of long-term strategies. The purpsoe of this paper is to analyse how intellectual capital (IC) dimensions affect environmental concern, preparing SSBs to have a proper environmental behaviour in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
A method based on the partial least square technique is suggested to select the model and estimate the parameters. A sample of 113 small businesses in the timber industry in a region of Argentina was selected for this study.
Findings
The results indicate that IC promotes environmental concern. Relational capital directly affects environmental concern, human capital and structural capital and these, in turn, indirectly affect the environmental concern through relational capital in SSBs.
Research limitations/implications
The sample used is a cross-section. IC is subjectively measured. This paper only studies small businesses in the timber sector in a region of Latin America.
Practical implications
This paper enables practitioners and scholars to understand and make legitimate decisions and conclusions that can foster SSB growth in environmental concern. The paper suggests a combination of strategies in order to achieve a sustained development.
Originality/value
The authors tested the impact of dimensions of IC on environmental concern in SSB of developing countries, showing the importance of IC in sustained strategies in these companies.