Intellectual capital and performance: evidence from SMEs in Vietnam
Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration
ISSN: 1757-4323
Article publication date: 16 May 2023
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigated the relationship between intellectual capital (IC)/its components, and the business performance of Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Design/methodology/approach
The panel data set was obtained from the Vietnam SME database. Using the value-added intellectual coefficient (VAIC) approach for IC measurement, this paper employs various panel data estimation approaches, including fixed effects (FE) and the generalized method of moments (GMM), to examine the relationship between IC and the financial performance of SMEs in Vietnam.
Findings
The result suggests that the value creation activities of SMEs in Vietnam mainly occur on the basis of physical and financial capital. In other words, the findings indicate that Vietnamese SMEs mainly depend on physical and financial capital to profit: they have not fully utilized their human capital and structural capital, two main components of IC for value creation.
Practical implications
The results underline the urgency of effective management of tangible and IC to boost the utilization of human and structural capital to increase the profitability of Vietnamese SMEs. The results lead to suggesting a series of policy recommendations to achieve the objective.
Originality/value
This paper is the first to examine the relationship between IC and the financial performance of SMEs in Vietnam, contributing to the literature on IC in emerging countries.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
Appreciation is expressed to the Editor and two anonymous referees for their helpful comments. This paper used unit record data from Vietnamese SMEs data and the data set was prepared as the collaborative efforts of the Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM), the Institute of Labour Science and Social Affairs (ILSSA), the Development Economics Research Group (DERG) at the University of Copenhagen and the UNU-WIDER. Sincere gratitude to the data providers for their time and efforts.
Citation
Kim, S.Y. and Tran, D.B. (2023), "Intellectual capital and performance: evidence from SMEs in Vietnam", Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJBA-08-2022-0343
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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