Towards a complementary intangibles reporting approach

Purpose – The aggregation and exploitation of knowledge edges has settled the appearance of multiple approaches that put intangibles as the most important key driver towards the strategic and financial level achievements. This paper's aim is to identify the intangibles recognized by the Portuguese Airlines companies, their impact on the companies' strategies and their inclusion in the internal management reporting standards. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on the Portuguese civil aviation sector, specifically focused on air transportation activity. The research involved all 21 Portuguese Airlines companies and the National regulator. Structured inquiries were conducted in the companies' financial departments and in the National Activity Regulator. Non‐parametric tests were performed in order to identify possible clusters and dependence linkages between companies' features and intangible policies and procedures. Findings – Findings evidenced the need of a complementary intangible resources scorecard report. Significant dependence does not exist between the inquiries' results and the airlines company's features. Results have shown that the intangibles objectives and recognition detractors have a transversal and structural nature, and are not focused on a discrete company type or cluster. Originality/value – This methodology clarifies the stage of knowledge management implementation and intangible assets measurement and recognition of the companies' reporting systems. Several intangibles were identified, some of them supporting strong and sustainable competitive advantages. This research also constitutes a deep sector diagnosis, the first step for an organizational culture change with respect to intangibles reporting requirements.