The Effect of Intangible Assets on Financial Performance, Financial Policies, and Market Value of Technology Firms: A Global Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Purpose- The purpose of this study is to examine the degree to which intangible assets affect financial performance and policy of the technological sector.

Design/methodology/approach- Structural equation modeling analysis was used to ascertain the relationship among intangible assets, firm performance, firm policy, and firm value in the year 2015 to 2018 of 80 companies according to the market capitalization of their respective countries in the technology sector globally. The measures used in this study profitability efficiency, capital structure, dividend policy and market value that is calculated through the proxies ROA, ROE, ROIC, ATO, Net Profit Margin, debt to equity ratio, dividend payout ratio, price-earnings ratio, price to sales and price to book value.

Finding- The results from Multi group Analysis (MGA) revealed that there are differences (p < .05) in the significance of the impact of Assets on the criterion variable between a few countries for instance Asset’s impact on ROIC is significantly different between Russia & China and USA.

Practical implications- Owners and managers of technological sector global companies must recognize the importance of both the physical capital and the intangible resources to the best interest of the companies

Originality/value– This is the first paper to examine the impact of intangible assets on firm performance, policies and value through cross country analysis in the technological sector.