Intellectual capital and firm performance of US multinational firms

The resource‐based view of the firm maintains that firms achieve a sustainable comparative advantage and earn superior profits by owning or controlling tangible as well as intangible strategic assets. The stakeholder view recommends that a better measure of financial performance than accounting profit is the total wealth created or net value added. Accordingly, this study examines the relationship between a return on total assets based on net value added ( à la stakeholder view) and the specific intangible asset of intellectual capital to test the resource‐based view of the firm. The results, using a sample of US multinational firms, are statistically significant in support of both the resource‐based and stakeholder views.