Intellectual capital model for family firms

Abstract

The intellectual capital-based view of the firm along with the literature about family firms serve as the basis for the present paper, which seeks to elaborate an intellectual capital model that can be applied to family firms. More precisely, our study identifies the main intangibles usually owned by family firms classifying those intangibles into human capital, structural capital and relational capital. In addition, the paper provides empirical evidence and gives examples of these intangibles through the analysis of external data from international family firms. The research question that we are trying to answer is: Which intangibles are owned by family firms for the mere fact of being family firms? Knowing the nature of the intangibles inherent to family firms can help improve their management, making the most of the intellectual capital owned by these firms when it comes to exploit their knowledge strengths.