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Purpose – Intangible resources are the most distinctive firms’ assets in competitive environments especially in service businesses. Insurance firms seeking more efficient performance than competitors should improve their intellectual capital (IC) strategies in both aspects of IC creation and utilization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate and improves IC participation in insurance firms’ efficiency. Design/methodology/approach – A two-phase framework: “explaining IC role in efficiency” and “measuring efficiencies of IC creation and application” is developed in order to find IC strategies increasing firms’ efficiency and though competitiveness. Efficiency is measured using data envelopment analysis and the generalized estimating equations is used as the regression method in order to explain efficiency with IC measures. Findings – Empirical results in Iran insurance sector (during a seven-year period for 17 Iranian insurers) show some IC components influence firms’ efficiency and could be intervention points for performance improvement. Then the firms are categorized into four zones in terms of IC efficiency and strategies are recognized for each category. Research limitations/implications – Although the research is initiated by the need to embed intangible resources in performance improvement in insurance sector, the research framework could be strongly applied in other knowledge-based industries. Originality/value – This paper embeds an innovative link between classic efficiency and IC which aligns resource management with competitiveness strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The basis of value creation has shifted from tangible factors of production towards intangible resources such as intellectual capital (IC) (e.g. Grant, 1996). The average organisation’s IC has been estimated to be three to four times over its book value (Edvinsson and Malone, 1997); thus, it is vital for companies to understand how it is created, managed, measured and evaluated. However, there are still many debated and complex issues, and the empirical measurement of IC is one of those. The purpose of this paper is to determine if IC systematically influences firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – A systematic review procedure was utilised as this study’s research design. Findings – The findings demonstrate that IC influences firm performance mainly through interactions, combinations and mediations. Also, there is a great deal of evidence on the significant relationship between IC and firm’s innovation performance. Research limitations/implications – This paper reviews only empirical studies based on survey data and statistical methods of analysis. Practical implications – The research points to some focal aspects of IC that are associated with firm performance. Originality/value – This is the first study to review empirical literature on IC and firm performance. It increases the current understanding by bringing together the research related to the issue and drawing meta-level analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine whether strategic intent influences developing intellectual capital (IC) and if IC affects performance measured in terms of product and service diversification within small and medium enterprises over time. Design/methodology/approach – This study discusses if and how structural equation models can be located within the third stage of IC research, and subsequently presents an analysis developed using 1,392 questionnaire responses through a temporal lens. Findings – Empirical results show how relational, human and structural capital strongly connects to support a firm’s performance measured in terms of product and service diversification. Additionally, IC and strategic intent influence each other creating a constraint effect on one side and an ambition effect on the other. Interestingly, the constraint effect is much higher than the ambition effect, and this falls in line with a contingency approach to strategic intent. Practical implications – Several practical implications are developed. First, results show that high regulation where firms can offer mandatory product/services can limit IC development. Therefore the findings contribute to the dialogue between policy makers, managers and businesses. Second, business schools should consider how strategic intent contributes to developing IC in order to design future curricula for accounting and management studies. Third, firms that operate in similar contexts should pay attention to managerial myopia due to low competition where a significant part of firms’ revenues is from mandatory product/services. Originality/value – This paper contributes to the existing literature by investigating how IC affects strategic intent and how strategic intent fosters IC development. Additionally, findings build on existing theory, helping to understand how IC affects performance measured in terms of portfolio diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For quite a while the issues of knowledge management, innovation and performance measurement have been on the agenda of researchers and practitioners alike throughout the world. Not too long ago it was recognised that there are direct cause and effect relations between knowledge reuse and invention. The present paper therefore discusses the constituent elements of innovation from a knowledge perspective which have been identified in the context of a European Union co-sponsored research project. The six facts of the "innovation cube" are: reuse of existing knowledge; invention of new knowledge; exploitation (i.e. turning knowledge into value); stakeholders' contributions (to the innovation life cycle); the enabling ecology or operating context in which the innovation occurs; and the performance facet, i.e. the bottom line. A toolkit based on performance measurement thinking and implementation process for better management of the balance between reuse and invention in development environments is proposed and results from their deployment in three real-life case studies are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]