Intellectual capital practices: a four‐region comparative study
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/14691930910922905 |
| Pages | 70-80 |
| Published date | 16 January 2009 |
| Date | 16 January 2009 |
| Author | George Tovstiga,Ekaterina Tulugurova |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance,HR & organizational behaviour,Information & knowledge management |
Intellectual capital practices:
a four-region comparative study
George Tovstiga
Henley Management College, Henley-on-Thames, UK, and
Ekaterina Tulugurova
St Petersburg State Polytechnical University, St Petersburg, Russian Federation
Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to present the findings of an empirical study that examines and compares
the competitive impact of intellectual capital on enterprise performance in small innovative enterprises
(SIEs) situated in four geographical regions: St Petersburg in the Russian Federation, the Black Forest
region of Germany, the “Medicon Valley”, situated between Copenhagen in Denmark and Malmo in
Sweden, and Silicon Valley in the USA.
Design/methodology/approach – The research seeks to investigate potential differences in
intellectual capital practices across the four regions while comparing the impact of these relative to the
firm’s external factors (socio-political, technological, and economic) for enterprise performance. To that
end, the research reported builds on and extends earlier research focused on Russian SIEs.
Findings – The research findings suggest that intellectual capital practices and their impact on
enterprise performance are more similar than different across the regions studied, and that the firms’
intellectual capital constitutes the more important determinant of enterprise performance relative to
external factors. This does not preclude differences in intellectual capital practices between the regions
studied. These differences are marginal, however, and reflect socio-economic and national cultural
factors unique to those regions investigated.
Research limitations/implications – The key questions of the research address the relative
impact of intellectual capital practices (internal factors) and prevailing socio-political, economic, and
technological factors on the performance of small innovative enterprises. The work presents an
extended sample size of Russian companies (also from St Petersburg) and an extension of the earlier
study to include the three additional geographic regions. The notion of the knowledge-based theory of
the firm forms the conceptual basis of the framework that is developed to relate intellectual capital
(human capital and structural capital) and key external factors (socio-political,economic and
technological ) to enterprise performance in SIEs.
Practical implications – The study compares the perceived importance of intellectual capital and
external environmental factors for enterprise competitiveness of companies in the four regions –
Russia, Germany, Denmark, and the USA. The research provides evidence that intellectual capital is
perceived to be the most important factor driving competitive performance in all the regions.
Originality/value – Similar to the research reported in an earlier paper by the same authors, the
paper represents work in progress. As such, the outcomes and conclusions reported should be viewed
as preliminary findings.
Keywords Intellectualcapital, Innovation, Small enterprises, Human capital
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The premise of this paper is that the firm’s internal resource base – and foremost its
intellectual capital – is a determining factor of competitive performance in small
innovative enterprises. Intellectual capital manifests itself in a variety of forms.
Common to all forms of intellectual capital are that they are largely intangible (Bontis,
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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JIC
10,1
70
Journal of Intellectual Capital
Vol. 10 No. 1, 2009
pp. 70-80
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
1469-1930
DOI 10.1108/14691930910922905
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