The Role of Intellectual Capital in Competitive Advantage (A Case Study on Two Automobile Maker Companies in Iran)

In a knowledge- based economy, products and companies live and die on information and the most successful companies are the ones who use their intangible assets better and faster. Researches have indicated that unlike the decreasing returns of traditional resources such as land, money, machinery etc. knowledge is really a resource to improve business performance. From a strategic perspective, intellectual capital (IC) is now a days used to create and enhance the organizational value, and the organization's success is linked to its ability to manage this scarce resource. This major capability relative to the other organizations might leads to a "sustainable competitive advantage" for the organization. Thus, the objective of this article is discussing on the role of intellectual capital in competitive advantage. The method of this research was descriptive and analytical. The study population, consists of supervisors, general managers and top managers. The results of this research indicate there is a significant positive relationship between elements of intellectual capital in the two studied companies. Also, their intellectual capital impacted on their competitive advantage directly.