بررسي تأثير سرمايه فكري بر عملكرد شركت‌هاي پذيرفته شده در بورس اوراق بهادار تهران

Investigating Effects of Intellectual Capital on Performance of the Companies in Tehran Stock Exchange

Introduction The resource-based view of the firm views firm resources as the main driver behind competitiveness and firm performance. These resources include both tangible physical assets as well as intangible assets that have been internalized by firm and used effectively and efficiency to implement specific competitive and profitable strategies. The first types of assets, generally tangible, such as property, plant and equipment and physical technologies are common place in the market, easily imitable and substitutable, and can be easily purchased and sold on the open market. The second types of assets, generally intangible, valuable, rare, mostly inimitable and non-substitutable, are strategic assets capable of generating sustainable competitive advantage and superior financial performance. While many types of intangible assets may qualify as strategic assets, the strict application of the above criteria reduces the number to few in general and to intellectual capital in particular. Thus it is expected that intellectual capital has the ability of generating sustainable competitive advantage and superior financial performance. Hypothesis In order to achieve the objectives of this research, the following hypotheses are developed and tested: 1) There is a significant relationship between a companyʹs intellectual capital and its performance. 1-1) There is a significant relationship between intellectual capital and Return on Assets. 1-2) There is a significant relationship between intellectual capital and Asset Turnover ratio. 1-3) There is a significant relationship between intellectual capital and Market to book value ratio. 2) There is a significant relationship between a companyʹs intellectual capital and its future performance. 2-1) There is a significant relationship between intellectual capital and next year Return on Assets. 2-2) There is a significant relationship between intellectual capital and next year Asset Turnover ratio. 2-3) There is a significant relationship between intellectual capital and next year Market to book value ratio. 3) There is a significant relationship between the rate-of-growth of a companyʹs intellectual capital and companyʹs future performance. 3-1) There is a significant relationship between the rate-of-growth of intellectual capital and next year Return on Assets. 3-2) There is a significant relationship between the rate-of-growth of intellectual capital and next year Asset Turnover ratio. 3-3) There is a significant relationship between the rate-of-growth of intellectual capital and next year Market to book value ratio. 4) The effects of intellectual capital on a companyʹs performance will differ by industry. Methods The variables being considered are: Intellectual capital as the independent variable, Return on Assets, Asset Turnover ratio and Market to book value ratio for performance evaluation (dependent variables); and the control variables are size and debt ratio of the company. In this research, 123 accepted firms in Tehran Stock Exchange, within the period 1380 to 1385 are investigated. For statistical analysis and to test hypothesis, descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (simple and partial correlation, single and multiple linear regression and analysis of variance) are used. Correlation coefficient and regression are used to test first nine hypotheses and analysis of variance is used in test of tenth hypothesis. Findings The results of statistical tests within the period 1380 to 1385 show that intellectual capital affects Return on Assets and Asset Turnover ratio of those years significantly and positively, but the effect on Market to book value ratio is not significant. Moreover, the statistical tests reveal that intellectual capital affects the future company performance, positively and significantly. Also, a significant relationship is verified between intellectual capital growth and the future company performance within the next year. Furthermore, the difference of the effects of intellectual capital on the current companyʹs performance in various industries is also concluded from the present study, which is due to the different effects of intellectual capital on Return on Assets and Asset Turnover ratio. Discussion and Conclusion Intellectual capital is considered in this study as a strategic, intangible asset. According to the resource-based view, it should be associated with the above-median sample performance. The result of this study support the resource-based view. The results confirm hypotheses, and show that intellectual capital has positive effects on current and next year performance. Indeed, only the effects of intellectual capital on current year market-to-book ratio are not significant. One of the probable reasons for this, is inefficiency of Tehran Stock Exchange, because the result of sixth hypothesis indicate that the association between intellectual capital and next year Market to book value ratio is significant. In other words, it seems that market reflects the effects of intellectual capital on stock price, with a delay. As a general rule, the results point to the usefulness of intangible in general and intellectual capital in particular as a sustainable source of superior wealth creation.