Intellectual capital performance drivers in the Greek banking sector

Abstract

The field for Intellectual Capital (IC) and the related philosophy of Knowledge Management (KM) has arisen recently to an interesting research object worldwide. Researchers round the globe presented interesting realistic contributions to the “intellectual” matter like Tobin’s “q”, Intangible Assets Monitor ‐IAM or “Skandia Navigator”. Increasingly the metrication of the intellectual intangibility, the visualization of the invisible intellectual brain power or the calculation of the intellectual potentiality provoked many “serious” researchers to fight like the hero of La Mancha “again wind, light and sound”. A. Pulic “VAIC™ – Value Added Intellectual Capital Method” is one way to bridge the distance from “tacit to ex plicit” because it helps to understand the metrics of intangibility. In the present research the data (published balance sheet and profit/loss account information) of seventeen main Greek banks for the period 1996 to 1999 is analyzed. The focus is put on the used human capital (HC) and physical capital (CA) of the Greek banking sector and their impact on firms’ value added (VA) based performance is discussed. The predictive (regression analysis) impact on the “intellectual” value added (VA) based performance confirms the existence of value added (VA) based performance differences among the various banks – always due to their potential of intellectual and physical capital.