The Relationship Between Intellectual Capital and Firm Value: A Study in Istanbul Stock Exchange

The main purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between intellectual capital and firm value. The study is significant in that it makes intellectual capital, which is of vital importance in ensuring firms’ sustainability, more apparent and it provides a chance to make comparisons with other studies. The companies operating in energy sector in Borsa Istanbul (abbreviated as BIST, former Istanbul Stock Exchange) during the period of 2009-2011, are taken into the scope of analysis. Within this scope, the findings obtained by using “Calculated Intangible Value Management” are compared with firms’ market value/book value practices in order to determine the relationship between intellectual capital and firm value. The findings reveal that energy companies operating in Turkey do not consider their intellectual capital assets important and tangible assets are the main factors affecting business performance.