In Search For A Link Between Innovation, Intellectual Capital And Company Performance

Abstract

The aim of the current paper is to explore the relationship between innovation/intellectual capital and the economic performance of firms in Flanders. For this purpose, use is made of a longitudinal firm-level dataset, built up by matching data from two different statistical sources: the Flemish CIS-3 (concerning innovation activities during 1998–2000) and a set of economic performance indicators drawn from the Belgian Belfirst (relating to the period 1998–2004). Our findings suggest that it is very difficult to make general conclusions on the relation between innovation and growth. In our sample, results depend on the definition of firm growth as a performance measure as well as on the method used to analyse the data.