The impact of the intellectual capital in Portuguese and Galician SMEs in timber and related industries

Abstract

This thesis aims at obtaining the doctoral degree in Economia e Empresa from the University of Vigo, Spain. It is proposed to study the impact that the intellectual capital has in the Portuguese and North Spanish (Galician) small and medium enterprises (SME) in the timber and related industries (furniture, paper, pulp, etc). It is expected that the results of this study will be good enough to be accepted for publication in leading scientific journals and would add substance to the existing literature and knowledge on the subject of intellectual capital. The main questions that will be aborded in this tesis and that should result in three articles are the following: Q.1: What is the magnitude of the impact of intellectual capital on the operations and profitability of SMEa in the timber and related industries? Q.2: Developing the intellectual capital improves the profitability of the SMEs in the timber and related industries? Q.3: What is the level of awareness of the importance of developing the intellectual capital in SMEs? Of course, the deepening of the study could alter the questions that are proposed to be answered here.