TY - JOUR
T1 - Strategic alliances and development of intellectual capital
T2 - a study of technology-based SMEs
AU - Ferreira, António
AU - Franco, Mário
AU - Haase, Heiko
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees of the journal for their extremely useful suggestions to improve the quality of the paper. The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the National Funds of the FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology within the project «UIDB/04007/2020».
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2022/12/7
Y1 - 2022/12/7
N2 - Purpose: From an absorptive capacity perspective, this study aims to analyse the influence of strategic alliances on the development of intellectual capital. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative study was chosen, with data on technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Portugal, leading to 257 valid answers. Findings: The results obtained from a structural equation model show that learning/knowledge and efficiency as important functions underlying strategic alliances exert a strong influence on intellectual (human, structural and relational) capital. Practical implications: These outcomes reveal that strategic alliances are a way for SMEs to overcome resource constraints in terms of intellectual capital, which represents an important implication for business practice. This study provides particular insights into how and to what extent alliance-specific mechanisms and functions lead to which improvement and effect. Originality/value: The study underlines the importance of strategic alliances for technology-based SMEs. In this way, this study adds to the scarce in the field providing evidence for the SMEs sector. Therefore, strategic alliances and intellectual capital should be considered two key tools for this firm segment and worthy of further research in absorptive capacity.
AB - Purpose: From an absorptive capacity perspective, this study aims to analyse the influence of strategic alliances on the development of intellectual capital. Design/methodology/approach: A quantitative study was chosen, with data on technology-based small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Portugal, leading to 257 valid answers. Findings: The results obtained from a structural equation model show that learning/knowledge and efficiency as important functions underlying strategic alliances exert a strong influence on intellectual (human, structural and relational) capital. Practical implications: These outcomes reveal that strategic alliances are a way for SMEs to overcome resource constraints in terms of intellectual capital, which represents an important implication for business practice. This study provides particular insights into how and to what extent alliance-specific mechanisms and functions lead to which improvement and effect. Originality/value: The study underlines the importance of strategic alliances for technology-based SMEs. In this way, this study adds to the scarce in the field providing evidence for the SMEs sector. Therefore, strategic alliances and intellectual capital should be considered two key tools for this firm segment and worthy of further research in absorptive capacity.
KW - Absorptive capacity
KW - Intellectual capital
KW - Knowledge
KW - Learning
KW - Performance
KW - Small and medium-sized enterprises
KW - SMEs
KW - Strategic alliances
KW - Technology-based firm
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85109010990&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/IJOA-10-2020-2440
DO - 10.1108/IJOA-10-2020-2440
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85109010990
SN - 1934-8835
VL - 30
SP - 1644
EP - 1671
JO - International Journal of Organizational Analysis
JF - International Journal of Organizational Analysis
IS - 6
ER -