Examining the relation between intangible assets and technical efficiency in the international textile and clothing industry

The resource-based view of the firm suggests that intangible assets have a positive impact on firm performance. This study examined the relation between intangible assets and technical efficiency of textile and clothing firms. A double bootstrap data envelopment analysis approach was used to measure and explain technical efficiency. The empirical application used a data-set of the textile and clothing industry over the period 1995–2004 with a worldwide coverage. The results show that intangible assets had a positive relation with technical efficiency of the textile and clothing firms. Debt and membership of EU had a negative relation, whereas size, membership of NAFTA, and GDP per capita were positively related with technical efficiency