Intangible-Intensive Strategies of Russian Companies

NRU Higher School of Economics , 2017. No. 57.

Paklina S., Molodchik M., Fernandez-Jardon Fernandez C. M.

This paper explores strategic behavior of Russian companies with regard to intangible resources and its link to different types of performance. Additionally, the study addresses the question, whether companies in intangible-intensive profiles have specific characteristics in terms of industry, size, company age and type of ownership. Following intellectual capital view, the study provides a cluster analysis considering four attributes: human resources, innovative capabilities, information and communications technology (ICT) capabilities and relational capital. Analysis of more than 1,000 Russian public companies over the period 2004-2014 reveals three profiles of strategic behavior considering the employment of intellectual resources. The majority of Russian public companies (60%) follow the non-intensive intangible strategy. Only 13% of companies constitute the intangible-intensive profile having endowment of all intellectual resources higher than the sample average. The rest 27% of companies also persuade the intangible-intensive strategy with the focus on innovative capabilities.

Keywords: strategy, cluster analysis, intellectual capital, performance, Russian companies, intangibles, strategic group