Investments in Innovation and Knowledge in Agri-Food Firms: Performance and Financial Sustainability in the Pork Meat Processing Sector

For firms operating in agri-food systems, investments in innovation and knowledge can be related to research and development, trademarks, patents, and other investments which are classified in the assets of the balance sheet among intangible assets, as part of the intellectual capital. The objective of the study is to verify, on a sample of agri-food firms whether there is a relationship between the investment in intellectual capital and firms’ performance. The research highlights a relationship between investments in intangible fixed assets and economic/financial performance in firms, which concern: greater profitability, greater capitalization, greater use of medium/long-term debt, lower cost of debt. The methodology addresses the issue of representing the investment in intellectual capital in the annual account statement of firms, considering the legal constraints and the accounting principles. Firms characterized by greater investments are characterized by greater capitalization in terms of equity capital, greater medium-long term debt. The research highlights that increased intellectual capital is correlated with improved economic/financial performance of firms.