Mariia A. Molodchik, Carlos Maria Jardon and Anna Andreevna Bykova
The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative analysis of the contribution made by intellectual capital (IC) to company performance at company and industry levels in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a comparative analysis of the contribution made by intellectual capital (IC) to company performance at company and industry levels in the Russian context. It examines the performance effect of IC using a multilevel approach.
Design/methodology/approach
The study combines the resource- and industry-based view. It decomposes performance determinants into two levels of analysis in such a way that it is assumed that IC at industry and company levels has a significant simultaneous impact on company performance. The empirical part of the study uses a database of 1,096 Russian public companies, covering the period of 2004–2014 and divided into 19 industries. The econometric methodology uses hierarchical linear models to estimate the effect of IC in the different levels of analysis.
Findings
The study confirms that the strength of the performance effect of IC is contingent on the industry. Furthermore, the study reveals that industry-level endowment with regard to intangibles contributes more to company performance in comparison with a company-level endowment, in the context of the transitional economy.
Originality/value
The study proposes a novel methodological approach to the performance effect of IC in the Russian context, studying the differences between industry and company effect. The study provides insights to better understand the importance of the politics of IC at the different levels (industry and company) and presents a new empirical enquiry into strategic behaviour regarding IC in Russia.
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Mariia Molodchik and Carlos Maria Jardon
The purpose of this paper is to theoretically justify the link between the endowment of intellectual capital (IC) and product novelty, and to find empirical evidence for such a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to theoretically justify the link between the endowment of intellectual capital (IC) and product novelty, and to find empirical evidence for such a link for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Russian business environment.
Design/methodology/approach
The study implements an intellectual capital-based view and the concept of novelty proposed by Schumpeter to highlight the crucial role of knowledge for transition to a higher level of competition. Drawing on a literature review, the authors determine three specific components of IC: foreign human capital, information and communication technology (ICT) capital developed at an international level and cooperation with foreign partners in order to pinpoint a premier position on the next level of the market. For empirical testing of the proposed model, a data set comprising more than 1,400 Russian manufacturing SMEs was used. Estimations were performed with the help of a principal component analysis and ordinal logistic regression.
Findings
The findings reveal that higher (IC) endowment promotes the level of product novelty. For Russian manufacturing SMEs, the most important is R&D capital. At the same time, ICT capital developed at an international level and cooperation with foreign partners contribute significantly to the probability of transition to a new market level.
Research limitations/implications
The study employs cross-sectional data that restrict the analysis of innovation dynamics.
Practical implications
The study appears to have policy implications for the development of governmental programmes for Russian SMEs such as the creation of IC awareness, training for IC management, special programmes for R&D support and ICT capital accumulation.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a new approach for investigating the “knowledge-innovation” link, shifting the focus from a general analysis of product innovation to a level of novelty for product innovation. This is the first empirical study of the relationship between IC components and the level of product novelty for SMEs in the context of the Russian business environment.
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Elena Shakina, Mariia Molodchik and Angel Barajas
This study aims to explore value creation through intangibles in corporations, taking into consideration the endogenous nature of managerial decisions. It is stated that…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore value creation through intangibles in corporations, taking into consideration the endogenous nature of managerial decisions. It is stated that intangibles bring extra information asymmetry into a company and make managers and investors’ goals less aligned.
Design/methodology/approach
A theoretical model is elaborated and empirically tested on the assumption that managers, while investing in intangibles, simultaneously make a company competitive and attractive to investors. The authors use a conceptual model of endogenous value creation to test how intangibles affect outperforming of a company and provoke the expectations of investors. The research is carried out on a sample of more than 1,650 European companies covering the period from 2004 to 2011. Structural equation modelling is applied for the purposes of empirical analysis.
Findings
The authors reveal a diverse impact of intangibles on outperforming of a company measured by economic value added and its ability to create market value. The study discovers that managers are prone to indicate positive signals to investors rather than create sustainable competitive advantages.
Practical implications
This research emphasizes on the particular importance of awareness of policymakers, namely, companies’ top managers, about the outcomes of their decisions. Decision-making in public companies should involve as much deliberation as possible about the potential impact of what is decided.
Originality/value
This work contributes primarily to the field of corporate finance in companies that use intangibles. The endogenous process of value creation is modelled and tested. As a result, a number of essential problems in agent relationships in intangible-intensive corporations are discovered.
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Mariia Molodchik, Sofiia Paklina and Petr Parshakov
This paper aims to examine how a company can build and develop its relational capital in a digital environment. It searches for proxy-indicators for digital relational capital and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine how a company can build and develop its relational capital in a digital environment. It searches for proxy-indicators for digital relational capital and explores their impact on company performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is designed to sit in the cross-section of two concepts – Big Data and Intellectual Capital. We analyze eight metrics of digital relational capital (SEMrush rank, Trust flow, Domain authority, MozRank, Number of pages indexed in Yandex and Google, Thematic Citation Index by Yandex, Alexa Rank) and examine their impact on company performance by conducting a two-stage fixed-effect regression. The empirical part of the paper is based on a database of more than 1,000 Russian public companies from 2010-2016.
Findings
The study justifies eight Big Data-based metrics that enable the estimation of the digital relational capital of a company. Empirical evidence of a significant impact on corporate performance is provided. Moreover, a U-shaped configuration of obtained relationships allows for a better understanding of the phenomenon of digital relational capital and has managerial implications.
Originality/value
Companies can indirectly influence the proposed metrics. The study gives specific recommendations regarding these metrics to allow companies to optimize their performance. In addition, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first empirical research on relational capital through Big Data in Russia.
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Anastasiia Redkina, Mariia Molodchik and Carlos Jardon
The paper aims to reveal the attitude of the Russian competition authorities towards cross-border mergers involving foreign buyers. The study addresses the following question: Is…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to reveal the attitude of the Russian competition authorities towards cross-border mergers involving foreign buyers. The study addresses the following question: Is the probability of Russian competition authorities' intervention significantly different when a foreign buyer takes part in the merger? This is the key test to reveal whether competition authorities gravitate towards “economic nationalism” or “promotion of foreign investments”.
Design/methodology/approach
The discrete choice model is applied to the dataset of 7,607 merger cases investigated by the Russian competition authorities between 2012 and 2017. The probability of competition authorities' intervention, such as merger correction by using remedies or deal rejection, is used as a measure of special attention.
Findings
The study finds out favoritism patterns of the regulator with regard to foreign companies. In particular, the deals involving a foreign buyer had less chance of intervention, i.e. imposition of remedies, from national competition authorities. The sanctions period does not moderate the probability of approval of a cross-border merger with foreign buyers by the Russian competition authorities.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to merger control literature by addressing the political economy issues. It discovers that, besides regulation by the law, there are hidden motives, such as protectionism or favoritism of foreign companies, which could drive the regulator's decision. Therefore, the studies of cross-border mergers provide an opportunity to investigate the political issues of merger control through the identification of a special attitude to foreign companies and analysis of regularities that might explain such a policy.
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Carlos Fernández Jardón, Mariia Molodchik and Sofiia Paklina
The purpose of this paper is to explore strategy-specific competencies with regard to intangibles and provides empirical evidence of intangible-based strategy groups for Russian…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore strategy-specific competencies with regard to intangibles and provides empirical evidence of intangible-based strategy groups for Russian companies. Additionally, the study examines the link between intangible-based strategy and company performance.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses strategic group theory and the resource-based view framework to identify similar strategic behaviour of companies by employment of intangibles. In line with the intellectual capital concept, the study provides a cluster analysis that considers four types of intangibles: human, relational, innovation and process capital. These are measured through publicly available data using principal component analysis. The empirical part of the study uses a database of 1,096 Russian public companies, which covers the period 2004–2014.
Findings
As a result, the study reveals three profiles of strategic behaviour with regard to intangibles. The majority of Russian public companies (63.5 per cent) are Generics and pursue a non-intensive intangible strategy. Only 13.3 per cent of companies constitute the intangible-intensive profile by having endowment of all intellectual resources higher than the sample average. The remaining companies (23.2 per cent) also pursue an intangible-intensive strategy with a focus on innovation capital. Intangible-intensive strategic groups outperform Generics.
Originality/value
The study proposes a novel intangible-based strategy continuum, which straddles two polar strategies: generic and smart. The study introduces insights to better understand the differences in performance across intangible-intensive strategies and presents a new empirical inquiry into strategic behaviour with regard to intangibles in Russia.
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Mariia Molodchik and Carlos Jardon
The paper aims to identify particular traits of the Russian context which condition two key enablers of organizational learning: organizational culture and transformational…
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to identify particular traits of the Russian context which condition two key enablers of organizational learning: organizational culture and transformational leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
Drawing on a literature review, the study determines management challenges by implementation of organizational learning in the Russian business context. Taking this into account, the authors suggest specific model of organizational learning which contains organizational learning processes, organizational culture oriented towards learning and transformational leadership. Empirical justification of this model is provided using a sample of more than 100 respondents. Partial least squares-analysis is applied to define structural relationships between the elements of proposed model.
Findings
The study reveals the positive and significant influence of transformational leadership and an organizational culture on organizational learning processes. Moreover, transformational leadership is shown to have a positive impact on an organizational culture, confirming the hypothesis regarding the pivotal role of leaders in the Russian business context.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of this study can assist managers doing business in Russia to improve organizational learning processes. The size of the sample appears to be the main limitation of this study. Questions that might also be addressed in additional research concern the influence of organizational learning on the performance of Russian companies.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to a better understanding of the barriers and stimuli exacted on organizational learning and provides empirical evidence of organizational learning practices of Russian companies.
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Company intellectual capital (IC) is nowadays considered as a key resource that can transform a company’s value. For this reason, the efficiency of IC is crucial for all…
Abstract
Purpose
Company intellectual capital (IC) is nowadays considered as a key resource that can transform a company’s value. For this reason, the efficiency of IC is crucial for all stakeholders. Evaluating efficiency is difficult, because IC is partly unobservable and its efficiency varies across time. The aim of this study is to suggest a methodology for estimating the dynamic efficiency of a company’s intellectual resources.
Design/methodology/approach
The panel data model suggested by Kneip et al. (2012) is used to estimate dynamic efficiency. The main feature of this model is that the unobservable component has a multi-dimensional factor structure. Taking advantage of the ability of this model to control for unobserved complex heterogeneity, the authors use the results in further stochastic frontier analysis. A data set containing information about Russian companies for the period from 2001 to 2010 is used.
Findings
In this paper, the dynamic efficiency of Russian companies is estimated. It is shown that, using the traditional efficiency estimate, companies can be overestimated.
Research limitations/implications
The main limitation of the suggested methodology is that it is necessary to have a long panel data structure.
Practical implications
Taking advantage of time-varying efficiency, one can estimate the efficiency growth rate as a measure of performance, standard deviation as a measure of risk and autocorrelation as a measure of stability.
Originality/value
This is the first study to present clear evidence of the time-varying nature of IC efficiency. On the methodological side, the paper presents a fairly simple method capable of estimating various indicators of a company’s efficiency.