The main objective of the study is to investigate intellectual capital changes during the life cycle of the listed companies on the Tehran Stock Exchange. In this research Pulic method is used for measuring intellectual capital. More ever, we used Anthony and Ramesh (1992) and Black (1998) method to classify the different stages of the firms life cycle. Intellectual capital consists of three components (employed capital efficiency, human capital efficiency and structural capital efficiency) in the Pulic method. In this study, the different stages of the life cycle are considered as the independent variable and intellectual capital is considered as the dependent variable. The sample size includes 80 observations for 10 years during 2002 to 2011. The results showed that there is a significant difference in intellectual capital amount during life cycle (growth, maturity and decline) and the type of their relationship is consistent with organizational life cycle theory. Thus, the rate of intellectual capital increases in the growth period and reaches to its maximum level maturity period and decreases in decline period slowly. Other results showed that there is a significant difference in capital employed efficiency amount during growth and decline period. More ever, there is a significant difference in human capital efficiency and structural capital efficiency amount in three periods and is consistent with life cycle curve.

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