Empirical evidence of the influence of strategic alliances on the intellectual capital of firms

Authors

  • Luiz Antonio Joia
  • Rodrigo Malheiros

Abstract

Intangible assets, also known as intellectual capital, have been considered as resources that enable organizations to be competitive, as seldom they can be copied and are frequently outcomes of firms complementarities. In this context, the recent theories of business strategy are increasingly considering a firm relationship network as the unit of analysis of their competitive advantages, and no more individual firms or sectors. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the influence of strategic alliances in the development of firms intangible assets. In order to do that, the article firstly conceptualizes and develops taxonomies for both firms intellectual capital and strategic alliances. Then, the research applies t-Student tests and hierarchical cluster analysis to scrutinize the data related to companies in the Brazilian transformation industry involved in alliances from 1996 to 2005. Based on the results obtained, the research concludes that strategic alliances of different types have a positive impact in the intellectual capital of the involved organizations. Lastly, the article unveils two propositions to be further tested: alliances in order to innovation affect, with more intensity, the generation of intellectual capital than marketing alliances or productive; and the more focused is the developed strategic alliance the more is the increasing in the intellectual capital of the involved enterprise.

Key words: intellectual capital, intangible assets, strategic alliances, Brazilian transformation industry.

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Published

2021-05-25

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2010): apr/jun

Section

Articles

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