Creating and managing value through metrics based on the perspectives of intellectual capital

Abstract

This study is part of research that discusses possibilities for corporations to achieve superior value based on strategic alignment, on the management of intellectual capital and on the use of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC). The research investigated the relation between value creation and the components of intellectual capital according to Stewart (1999; 2001), M'Pherson and Pike (2001), and Kaplan and Norton (2004), among others, besides bringing to the fore the issue of the implementation and extent of the use of the Balanced Scorecard. The proxies used to characterize value creation were average price-to-book value (ratio of market value to book value) and average stock returns for the period studied. To characterize the components of intellectual capital, the authors resorted to ratios calculated on the basis of the perception of senior executives in charge of business process planning and control, based on both a literature review and a factorization procedure. Nonparametric tests were used to look for evidence of different appreciation and returns in the stock market for homogeneous segments of corporations with different profiles in terms of their ratios of intellectual capital. The findings were conclusive and significant - supporting the proposition of alignment between perception of value from the capital market's standpoint and the management's perception of performance from various angles. As for the adoption of the BSC, there were indications of interference favoring performance in those firms classified as having the best value creation standards.