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While withstanding a highly competitive environment, an increasing number of firms have recognized that intangible assets rather than tangible ones are vital to achieving competitive advantages. Intellectual capital has replaced physical capital as the primary basis of value creation. Although the importance of intellectual capital in ensuring superior competitive advantages is well accepted, exactly how these two constructs are related has seldom been investigated, particularly for the high‐technology industry. Taking a sample of 39 Taiwanese IC design companies, this study adopted data envelopment analysis and the Malmquist productivity index to evaluate the impact of intellectual capital on competitive advantage. The analytical results revealed that approximately one third of the companies sampled had excellent efficiency in intellectual capital management, while the others still had considerable room to improve their intellectual capital management. The results of this study provide a valuable reference for future studies in alternative contexts.

This study examined the combined effect of family ownership and high‐discretion organizational slack on the international involvement of Taiwanese firms. Employing a sample of 179 publicly listed high‐tech firms in Taiwan over a period of 6 years (2000–2005), we found that firms with high levels of international involvement, that is, a higher degree of internationalization, (i) were not closely held, and (ii) were not excessively controlled by the family. Further, high‐discretion organizational slack (indicated by resources that can be deployed in a flexible fashion such as in cash and receivables) moderated the negative relationship between family control and international involvement. This relationship is stronger with a higher level of high‐discretion slack. The results support the hypothesis that family control and high‐discretion organizational slack negatively influence the decision to internationalize.

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