Brands, patents, and value creation

Abstract

The intangible assets have been playing an important role in the firm's value creation, particularly because they are important sources of competitive advantage. Because of this increasing importance of intangible assets, it is essential to properly manage these assets in order to make the firm to reach its primary financial objective: the shareholder value maximization. This paper examines the relationship between intangible assets (specifically brands and patents) and the market value of Brazilian public companies. In general, the importance of innovation in the value creation of the companies seems to be evident. However, our research shows that, on one hand, patents are not significant to the value creation of Brazilian companies. On the other hand, results show that quantity of brands is significant and positively related to both proxies for value creation (market-to-book ratio and Tobin's Q).