Corporate Governance, Ownership Structure and Sustaining Competitive Advantage: A Duration Based Approach

The resource based view of the firm suggests that competitive advantages are derived from unique combinations of capabilities that when deployed lead to superior performance (Barney, 1986, 1991; Peteraf, 1993; Wernerfelt, 1984). Barney (2001) and Wernerfelt (1995) call for future studies that examine the role corporate governance plays in competitive advantage. This paper addresses this research gap by examining corporate governance and ownership structure effects on firm capabilities development. We utilize a unique, custom developed database of over 2,100 cellular telecommunications licenses in 200 countries. We test a set of competing hypotheses to determine which types of corporate governance and ownership structures increase the likelihood of sustaining competitive advantage.