?
Assessment of relational capital influence on company’s organizational performance
Intangible assets are increasingly viewed as a company's strategic resource. Although intellectual capital has been studied well recently, its relational capital component has not received such attention. Previous studies showed weak results of relational capital influence in the context of developing countries as well. Considering socio-historical circumstances Russia represents an interesting environment for investigating relational capital work. Thus, the aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between relational capital and Russian companies’ organizational performance. The secondary data on 76 Russian retail companies were analyzed. Findings demonstrates the positive influence of a firm's relationship with customers and employees on its organizational performance. These findings provide guidelines for managers to use relational capital while marketing strategy development. Also, the study confirmed the assumption on private labels' influence on company performance. This might encourage managers to introduce such programs if it's not used yet. And also increase the proportion of private label products on store shelves, if the company already possesses some. This study makes several contributions in understanding relational capital work in the context of emerging markets. Previous studies showed a weak relational capital impact on a company's organizational performance in the Russian context. Literature does not reach a consensus on relational capital influence. However, this study is based on the assumption on the intellectual capital variation across the industries. The result slightly confirmed this suggestion and opened up new opportunities for research. Moreover, the retail industry being a young sector of the Russian economy was understudied as well. The current paper sheds light on the intangible assets works in the retail industry of emerging markets.