Intellectual capital, sustainable economic and financial performance and value creation in emerging markets: the case of Brazil
ISSN: 0888-045X
Article publication date: 4 March 2022
Issue publication date: 9 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of intellectual capital (IC) on sustainable economic and financial performance (EFP) and value creation (VC) in Brazilian companies.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on finance and accounting theories, a quantitative and descriptive long-term study was carried out in the companies listed on the Brazil Stock Exchange and Over-the-Counter Market (B3), covering 20 years period.
Findings
The results indicate that IC positively influences profitability, corporate return and organizational value sustainably; the most intangible-intensive Brazilian companies listed on B3 presented more robust results than the least intangible-intensive; and IC contributes to a systematic increase in EFP and VC over time.
Research limitations/implications
Using a well-established metric, the IC-INDEX, the IC and its effects were measured, obtaining theoretical contributions (expanding the understanding of the IC influence in sustainable EFP and VC from a long-term perspective – one subject still unexplored in the literature); and empirical (increasing the understanding of the IC’s role as a driver of competitiveness, performance and organizational value).
Practical implications
This study increases the understanding of the theoretical and practical effects of IC, also providing a competitive benchmarking process to access sustainable EFP and VC of companies and their industries.
Originality/value
The originally applied and validated proposal extends existing theory by offering a set of indicators to scale the contribution of IC to competitiveness from the perspective of long-term (historical) corporate outcomes.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors are pleased to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions that helped to improve the quality of the manuscript and the editors at Emerald - who have ensured that all editorial process and peer review has been done anonymously and independently of the authors, given that a one of them is the Journal’s Editor-in-Chief.
Declaration of conflicting interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding: The authors are pleased to acknowledge financial support from the Funds of the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, within the project “UIDB/04007/2020.”
Availability of data and materials: All financial data sets concerning financial statements used and/or analyzed during the current study are public and available from the B3 site.
Citation
Jordão, R.V.D., Almeida, V.R.d. and Novas, J. (2022), "Intellectual capital, sustainable economic and financial performance and value creation in emerging markets: the case of Brazil", The Bottom Line, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/BL-11-2021-0103
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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