The Impact of Intellectual Capital on Achieving Sustained Competitive Advantage A Field Study of Yemeni Companies for Food Industry

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the impact of intellectual capital on achieving the sustainable competitive advantage in the Yemeni companies for food industry. The descriptive analytical method was used, and the study community consisted of (5416) employees from (16) Yemeni large companies for food industry, a number of (359) participants were taken as a sample, using a non-proportional stratified random sample. The data were collected by using a questionnaire which was developed for collecting the data. The results of the study revealed that the companies of this study pay a significant attention to achieving sustainable competitive advantage in all variables as the highest degree of achievement was recorded in the variables of (quality and responsiveness to customer) whereas the variables of (efficiency and innovation or renovation) recorded the lowest degree of achievement. The companies also pay a significant consideration to the implementation of intellectual capital whereas they pay greater attention to the human capital than to the relational capital and structural capital. The results also revealed that the impact of the intellectual capital on achieving the sustainable competitive advantage varies according to the variable as the relational capital variable scored the highest degree of influence, and the followed the human capital whereas the structural capital came last. In light of the findings, the study recommended promoting the level of achieving the sustainable competitive advantage in all variables, especially efficiency, as it scored the lowest degree of achievement of sustainable competitive advantage and increasing the implementation of intellectual capital, as this has a positive impact on achieving the sustainable competitive advantage.