Motives for Financial Valuation of Intangibles and Business Performance in SMEs.

Abstract

In line with the Resource-based view, intangibles have become the key resource for generating competitive advantages in a firm. This is particularly significant in the case of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) whose competitive advantage is frequently based on intangible resources. However, there has been little attempt to assess and measure the role of intangible resources in firms' performance, and the motives driving their valuation process. Besides, most of the studies have been carried out in large firms. This article, combining theoretical contributions and empirical evidence, aims to analyze the relationship between the motives, external or internal, driving the valuation process of intangibles and the performance obtained by SMEs. Considering the recognized hypotheses and based on a survey of a representative sample of 369 Spanish SMEs' managers, in addition to the financial data collected from these firms, we explore whether the different motives driving the companies to perform a financial valuation of their intangibles are reflected in the business performance, and conditioned by financial structure and the level of intangibles. Results indicate that SMEs consider important to report intangibles value to external stakeholders as they depict a higher level of borrowing, as well as a higher level of intangibles accounted in the balance sheet. Furthermore, SMEs that consider the financial valuation of their intangibles for internal reasons achieve better performance. The implications of these results and suggestions for future research are dicussed as well.