Inmaculada Aguiar-Díaz

Technological knowledge assets in industrial firms

This research focuses on identifying and measuring the technological knowledge assets that constitute the basis of the knowledge management process and on the study of contextual factors that determine their use. To that end, a longitudinal study of 1,444 Spanish industrial firms between 1998 and 2000 was conducted using information gathered by the Survey of Business Strategies. The results enable us to identify technological knowledge assets with different levels of codification and to have a general view of how age, size and sector affect the use of those assets by Spanish industrial firms.

Technological knowledge assets and innovation

The aim of this paper is to study the influence of technological knowledge assets with different levels of codification on innovation capability from the resource- and knowledge-based view of the firm. To that end, a study of 1444 Spanish industrial firms was performed between 1998 and 2000, based on information provided by the Survey of Business Strategies (SBS). The results show that technological knowledge assets exert different levels of influence depending on their character. Thus, tacit assets exert more influence on firm innovation than other technological knowledge assets. Specifically, technological knowledge capabilities are the most significant during the three-year period of analysis.

Bank presence in firm equity: A diversification based approach

This study analyses the possible reasons for banks deciding to invest in firm equity, based on the fundamentals of the strategic diversification literature. Those fundamentals suggest that it may be in response to the negative evolution of other aspects of banking business, namely, credit business, fixed interest business and services, as well as the banks level of efficiency. The results confirm the hypotheses that the decision to hold equity in other firms is related to the evolution of the banks other businesses. However, the results for savings banks differed from those for banks.

Calidad de la auditoría, Second-Tier y tamaño: su efecto en las empresas fracasadas no cotizadas españolas

Este trabajo tiene por objetivo analizar el efecto del tamaño de la empresa auditada en la probabilidad de que el auditor incurra en fallo al emitir una opinión, lo que representa una menor calidad de la auditoría. Los resultados obtenidos para una muestra de empresas no cotizadas españolas en situación concursal, distinguiendo entre firmas Big4, Second-Tier y el resto, permiten concluir que existe un comportamiento diferenciado de las auditoras en función del tamaño de la empresa auditada. Así, las firmas Big4 y las Second Tier presentan una mayor calidad de la auditoría en las empresas de mayor dimensión respecto al resto de auditoras, lo cual refleja la importancia de la protección de la reputación del auditor sobre su posible dependencia de la empresa auditada. Por otro lado, los resultados revelan que las firmas Second-Tier presentan una mayor probabilidad de incurrir en fallo que el resto de auditores cuando se consideran empresas pequeñas; lo cual podría explicarse por su menor preocupación por el riesgo reputacional, considerando la menor visibilidad y riesgo de litigio de este tipo de empresas. No obstante, no se observa una peor calidad de las firmas Second-Tier cuando el fracaso es inminente.