Impact of intellectual capital on financial performance in the pharmaceutical industry in Iran

Abstract

In the era of knowledge-based economy, organizations make use of two distinct sources for value creation and profit, i.e.,  tangible resources and or intangible resources. On the other hand, it is believed that intellectual capital could be better than the material and physical capital in explaining financial performance indicators of companies. Regarding this background, the present research, through an investigation done on the performance of 22 pharmaceutical companies in the period of 2004-2008, revealed that companies' efficient and optimal use of material and intellectual resources affects their profitability index. Also, efficiency has a negative effect on the productivity of human capital and productivity of structural capital has a positive impact on equity. Finally, no evidence  was found about the hypothesis that the market value changes of companies can be attributed to the performance of intellectual capital and it seems that Iranian pharmaceutical market still continues to be sensitive to material capital more than intellectual capital.