Title: Intangible-driven performance: company size matters

Authors: Mariia Molodchik; Carlos Fernandez-Jardon; Angel Barajas

Addresses: National Research University Higher School of Economics, Lebedeva 27, Perm, 614070, Russian Federation ' Fac. CC. Economicas y Empresariales, Universidad de Vigo, Campus Lagoas-Marcosende, 36310-Vigo, Spain; National Research University Higher School of Economics, Lebedeva 27, Perm, 614070, Russian Federation ' Fac. CC. Empresariales y Turismo, Universidad de Vigo, Campus Universitario, 32004-Ourense, Spain; National Research University Higher School of Economics, Lebedeva 27, Perm, 614070, Russian Federation

Abstract: This paper explores the moderator effect of firm size on the relation between different intangible resources and companies' performance. By analysing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and large companies, the authors examine the differences in the employment of six types of intangible resources: human resources, management resource capabilities, innovation and internal process capabilities, customer loyalty and networking capabilities. Dummy regression is applied to establish the differential effect in the impact of these intangibles on firm performance, measured by return on assets (ROA). This study provides econometric justification using a database of more than 1,400 European public companies. The time period for the investigated data covers ten years, from 2004 to 2013. The findings revealed that SMEs have less endowment of almost all of the analysed intangible resources. At the same time, in comparison with large companies, SMEs benefit more from developing human resources, innovation and internal process capabilities.

Keywords: intangibles; SMEs; large companies; Europe; ROA; return on assets; dummy regression; interaction effect; firm size; company size; small and medium-sized enterprises; intangible resources; firm performance; human resources; management resource capability; internal process capability; customer loyalty; networking capability; innovation; econometrics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJKBD.2016.078527

International Journal of Knowledge-Based Development, 2016 Vol.7 No.3, pp.225 - 239

Received: 30 Jul 2015
Accepted: 29 Feb 2016
Published online: 22 Aug 2016 *

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