دانلود رایگان مقاله انگلیسی ایجاد عملکرد شرکت های کوچک از طریق توسعه سرمایه های فکری - الزویر 2018

ABSTRACT

Innovation seems to be a fundamental requirement for the growth and sustainability of small businesses. While previous research revealed a strong correlation between intellectual capital and performance, the role of intellectual capital in facilitating the innovativeness and performance of a firm has not been thoroughly examined in the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) context. This study examines the role of innovativeness in the intellectual capital and organizational performance relationship using a sample of small firms. The results of a survey conducted on 460 small business owners indicate a positive relationship between two components of intellectual capital, human capital and organizational capital, and organizational performance. Further analysis finds that innovativeness partially mediates the relationship between intellectual capital and organizational performance. Our findings indicate that efficiently and effectively organized firms can leverage well skilled and innovative employees to achieve the best performance through innovation.

6. Conclusion

SMEs often have limited access to resources, making it important to understand how to best attract and use intellectual capital to enhance firm performance. Our findings suggest that identifying human capital and developing internal processes that develop organizational capital are keys to success. Attracting talented employees has long been a challenge for SMEs, often due to limited compensation capabilities. Based on our results, it is imperative that business owners seek out talented employees, who bring the needed skills and knowledge into the organization. While founding entrepreneurs play a critical role in venture creation, it is often the acquisition of skilled employees to allow a firm strategically develop a fully innovative business. As suggested by Edelman et al. (2005), resources alone do not explain firm performance; SMEs must identify and implement the best strategy to maximize performance. Research has shown that, without the effective implementation of internal processes and strategies, there is often a waste of resources and lack of direction and sustainability (Mazzarol et al., 2009). West and Noel (2009) suggest that small business owners must be rational in investing resources that make the best use of people and processes. We believe that the mediating effect of innovation on the human capital-performance and organizational capital-performance relationships sheds important new insights in the SME performance domain.