Intellectual capital and business start-up success

Abstract

While start-up firms create a substantial economic impact on most economies, the failure rate of start-up firms seems to remain high over time. Few authors have examined the influence of intellectual capital management on business performance, and when it has been examined, the focus has been on large, mature and public companies. The purpose of this study is to analyze the extent to which IC assets are associated with new firm survival and growth. Results from this study suggest that the human capital of the entrepreneur (i.e. education, business experience and level of motivation), organizational capital (i.e. firm capacity to adapt quickly to changes and the ability to implement successful strategies), and relational capital (i.e. development of productive business networks and an immediate access to critical stakeholders) are important intangible assets, which seem to be related positively to venture performance. © 2002, MCB UP Limited