Relationship of Intangible Assets and Competitive Advantage for Software Production: A Brazilian Companies Study

The competitive strategies of software-producing organizations are generally based on the opportunities and risks of each business deal and do not sufficiently explore the potential of their intangible assets. This study aims to evaluate the impact of intangible resources management in the formulation of competitive strategies in software-production. To assess the existence, intensity, and conditions of the cause-effect relationship between intangible assets and competitive advantages, it was conducted an exploratory survey among Brazilian companies that produce software, belonging to the same economic cluster. The attributes of intangible resources were the same used in a study conducted in Europe in 2004 (value, rareness, imitation and substitution) and the results were statistically evaluated, using contingency tables and Chi-square tests. At same time, it was performed a case study with some of these Brazilian organizations to know the intensity and conditions under which the relationship could occur. The research found that intangible resources are structured according to the type of business involved, and they emphasize the basic management's elements: schedule - cost and quality as the most visible for the organization and customers. The intangible resource knowledge provides opportunities for the organization to identify effective partnerships and establish strong and long relationship.