Criação de valor, vantagem competitiva e seu efeito no desempenho financeiro das empresas

Competitive advantage is the central theme in the field of strategy and the main hypothesis to explain the firm performance heterogeneity. However, competitive advantage is frequently used as a self-explanatory term, source of different theoretical interpretations and empirically treated as profitability. These aspects challenge the robustness and usefulness of the construct. From this angle, this study develops a theoretical and empirical analysis about competitive advantage, in its definitions and perspectives of analysis, and its relation and effects upon organizational performance. Starting from conceptual research, competitive advantage is firstly defined as value creation. In the frontiers of value creation stands the capacity of resources development to surpass competitors. On the interfaces with economic partners and stakeholders, value created has implications on organizational performance, such as financial impacts, operational impacts and the organizational efficiency. The study of these interfaces leads to the development of a multilevel model to measure competitive advantage through their effects on financial performance, through the combination of profitability market growth curves of the companies. The model is applied a sample of American companies (COMPUSTAT), in four time intervals during the period of 1990 to 2009. The results allow identifying the existence of competitive advantage in different sectors, the frequency and the stability of its occurrence along the 20 year observation period. The analysis of the results also allows verifying the dynamic of competition and the capacity to sustain competitive advantage over time. Finally, the study of long-lived companies brings a new perspective of performance over time and the survival of companies.