Managing intangible assets for small firm growth

The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of various intangible assets on growth in the small firm. It starts with the hypothesis that superior firm performance depends upon aspects of the entrepreneur’s orientation and the resources they own and control. This approach corresponds to the entrepreneurship and resource-based views that can be found in mainstream, western literature. However, the goal here is to extend this analysis to small firms in the developing world. We use empirical evidence, to which we apply statistical and econometric analysis. The data are gathered anew from a fieldwork based study of private firms. This was undertaken by face-to-face interviews using an administered questionnaire developed for the purpose. For our sample, we find that entrepreneurial attributes have little significant impact on small firm growth, whereas intangible asset attributes have a positive and significant impact on growth. Our paper suggests that, as far as our empirical evidence goes, little can be attributed to entrepreneurship, in terms of performance and growth, but rather that intangible assets are of key importance. An ability to build upon and exploit these intangibles can therefore help the owner manager of a small entrepreneurial firm to achieve growth and to improve performance.