Proceedings of the 3rd European Conference on Intellectual Capital

Florinda Matos et al.
be required. Indeed, this is one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> advantages <strong>of</strong> this model: its interactive dynamism, which has
proven to be very good in turbulent business contexts.
3. Empirical research
This survey was conducted in 2010 in a large Portuguese company, in <strong>the</strong> area/sector <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> meat
industry.
The company studied works in <strong>the</strong> area/sector <strong>of</strong> fresh meat products, cutting <strong>of</strong> casings (pork, lamb
and goat), slicing <strong>of</strong> parts (pork, beef, veal, lamb and goat), and preparation <strong>of</strong> minced, prepared and
marinated meat as well as its packaging.
The company has a total <strong>of</strong> 540 employees, 350 permanent and <strong>the</strong> rest/remaining in temporary
work.
This research aims to discuss <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> intellectual capital management in <strong>the</strong> food sector.
We used <strong>the</strong> single case study methodology according Yin (2003) associated with Intellectual Capital
Model (Matos and Lopes, 2009). We have considered this model appropriate to audit intellectual
capital management. According to Yin (2003, p. 39-40) case studies can be single or multiple
drawings.
Single case studies are ideal for cases <strong>of</strong> revelation. The case study is an excellent tool when we
want to understand a reality and for defining future paths <strong>of</strong> research.
Regarding <strong>the</strong> pr<strong>of</strong>ile <strong>of</strong> respondents, we examined <strong>the</strong> leader's vision.
Similarly to Yin (2003, p.99) this empirical study will follow <strong>the</strong> triangulation <strong>of</strong> data. This triangulation
will be supported by ga<strong>the</strong>ring information from different data sources in order to verify if <strong>the</strong> same
sources corroborate <strong>the</strong> same phenomenon.
As criteria <strong>of</strong> quality research, we shall consider <strong>the</strong> four tests referred by Yin (2003, p. 34): construct
validity, internal validity, external validity and reliability.
Following <strong>the</strong> methodological procedures set out above, we used content analysis, according to
Bardin (2009) with <strong>the</strong> following steps <strong>of</strong> content analysis: pre-analysis, content analysis, processing
<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> results interpretation.
As one <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> techniques mentioned by several authors, <strong>the</strong> analysis <strong>of</strong> categories, according to
Bardin (2009) is <strong>the</strong> technique used in this research.
We started by defining <strong>the</strong> categories guiding <strong>the</strong> questions asked to respondents, followed by <strong>the</strong>
analysis <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> collected material for interpretation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dominant <strong>the</strong>mes in each category.
The Guidelines had been designed, taking into account three levels <strong>of</strong> analysis:
(A) Level 1 - Quadrants
(B) Level 2 - Parameters
(C) Level 3 - Overall organization <strong>of</strong> ICM.
To follow <strong>the</strong>se methodological procedures, we proceeded to <strong>the</strong> full transcript <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> interviews.
Afterwards, <strong>the</strong> data was categorized according to <strong>the</strong> categories and subcategories defined a priori.
4. Results
The data analysis allowed us to verify that new technologies are very important in <strong>the</strong> company.
New technologies enable <strong>the</strong> improvement <strong>of</strong> processes, <strong>the</strong> identification <strong>of</strong> new work patterns and
new information systems, in order to constantly improve <strong>the</strong> industry performance. Never<strong>the</strong>less, only
approximately 10% <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> employees use <strong>the</strong> new technologies.
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