La valoración empresarial basada en intangibles: de la revisión teórica a la evidencia empírica en escenarios de incertidumbre

Intangible elements have become established in recent years as one of the main drivers of corporate value. Nevertheless, their incorporation into valuation processes remains limited. This is largely due to the difficulty of quantifying them, the wide diversity of intangibles that may potentially generate value, and the lack of consensus among managers and investors regarding which of them exert the greatest influence on value and, therefore, deserve a greater allocation of resources. The objective of this doctoral thesis is to identify, among the various intangibles that may influence corporate value, those that have the most significant impact and to empirically demonstrate their effect on value, thereby providing investors and managers with well-founded guidance to help them decide in which intangibles to concentrate their limited resources. To achieve this objective, we conducted three independent studies that are nonetheless closely interrelated. The first study aims to identify all the intangibles analyzed by the academic literature over the past two decades in relation to corporate value, to examine the interdependencies among them, and to analyze the evolution of the academic attention each has received over time. The results reveal that, throughout the years, a total of 32 intangibles potentially influencing firm value have been studied, which can be grouped into five clusters: strategy and firm characteristics, ownership structure, managerial structure, corporate social responsibility and stakeholders, and external elements to the firm. Furthermore, the findings show a growing attention toward intangibles related to corporate social responsibility and transparency, to the detriment of more traditional ones such as marketing or diversification policies. The second study focuses on establishing a hierarchy among the previously identified intangibles in order to determine which of them exert a greater influence on firm value. It also seeks to identify those intangibles that, despite not having a significant presence in the academic literature, may act as drivers of value. The results identified two intangibles that, although not extensively examined in the scientific literature, could have a significant impact on firm value: corporate reputation and the industry in which the company operates. Our findings further revealed that, although all the analyzed intangibles are relevant to corporate value and therefore should not be disregarded, only three are considered highly important: corporate reputation, debt policy, and the firm’s innovative activity. These intangibles emerge as strategic priorities in resource allocation for both managers and investors. The third study aims to empirically demonstrate the influence of corporate reputation on firm value, given that this intangible was identified as the most relevant in the previous hierarchy. This analysis examines the effect of both overall corporate reputation and the different dimensions that constitute specific reputation, as well as the influence of CEO reputation. In addition, it evaluates the impact of corporate reputation on corporate value both in the long term and in contexts of economic uncertainty, specifically during the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The results show that overall corporate reputation, CEO reputation, and the various specific dimensions exert a significant and positive influence on long-term value. Among them, the firm’s financial reputation stands out, as it not only exhibits the greatest effect on value but is also the only dimension that maintains its positive influence during the crisis caused by the pandemic, thus consolidating itself as the most relevant component of corporate reputation for the markets.

Grantor dc:publisher

Universidad de La Rioja (España)

Year dc:date

2026

Author dc:creator

• Bañuelos Campo, Arkaitz

Contributors dc:contributor

• Ayala Calvo, Juan Carlos (Universidad de La Rioja)
• Melón Izco, Álvaro (Universidad de La Rioja)

Statement dc:rights

• LICENCIA DE USO: Los documentos a texto completo incluidos en Dialnet son de acceso libre y propiedad de sus autores y/o editores. Por tanto, cualquier acto de reproducción, distribución, comunicación pública y/o transformación total o parcial requiere el consentimiento expreso y escrito de aquéllos. Cualquier enlace al texto completo de estos documentos deberá hacerse a través de la URL oficial de éstos en Dialnet. Más información: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/info/derechosOAI | INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS STATEMENT: Full text documents hosted by Dialnet are protected by copyright and/or related rights. This digital object is accessible without charge, but its use is subject to the licensing conditions set by its authors or editors. Unless expressly stated otherwise in the licensing conditions, you are free to linking, browsing, printing and making a copy for your own personal purposes. All other acts of reproduction and communication to the public are subject to the licensing conditions expressed by editors and authors and require consent from them. Any link to this document should be made using its official URL in Dialnet. More info: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/info/derechosOAI

Language dc:language

spa

Repository record dc:identifier

https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/oaites?codigo=397844

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dialnet.unirioja.es:TES0000023219