Title: The effect of intellectual capital on product innovativeness in SMEs

Authors: Karl-Heinz Leitner

Addresses: Foresight and Policy Development Department, Austrian Institute of Technology, Donau-City-Strasse 1, 1220 Vienna, Austria

Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between intellectual capital and different product innovation strategies based on a longitudinal study of Austrian firms assuming that intellectual capital is an important complementary asset for innovation activities. The data was collected in 1995 and 2003 using the same questionnaire among a firm sample of 91 small and medium-sized firms in manufacturing industries. The study delivers evidence for a positive association between human capital and product innovativeness. Moreover, firms, which have strength in both human and structural capital have a higher likelihood to be highly innovative. In addition, the research reveals that intellectual capital discriminates more strongly between highly and less innovative firms while the traditional measure of R&D expenditure has a stronger explanatory power in differentiating between not innovative and less innovative firms.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises; manufacturing SMEs; innovation strategies; innovativeness; intellectual capital; human capital; structural capital; product development; longitudinal study; Austria.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTM.2011.037235

International Journal of Technology Management, 2011 Vol.53 No.1, pp.1 - 18

Published online: 06 Apr 2013 *

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