Title: Firm capability, corporate governance and competitive behaviour: a multi-theoretic framework

Authors: Jinyu He, Joseph T. Mahoney, Heli C. Wang

Addresses: Department of Management, School of Business and Management, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong. ' Department of Business Administration, College of Business, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 140C Wohlers Hall, 1206 South Sixth Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA. ' Department of Management, School of Business and Management, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong

Abstract: In this paper, we propose two possible remedies for corporate governance research. First, when examining the effects of corporate governance, researchers may want to simultaneously consider the role of firm resources and capabilities. Second, linking corporate governance with firm-level competitive behaviour rather than with firm-level performance may enable researchers to detect more nuances about the effects of corporate governance. We base our propositions on the notion that |capability| and |motivation| are the two fundamental drivers of firm competitive behaviour. Firm resources/capabilities, which correspond to the capability driver, define the potential level of a firm|s competitive activity. Further, corporate governance, by virtue of affecting managers| motivation to take actions, moderates the relationship between firm resources/capabilities and competitive behaviour. In addition, viewing from the capability-motivation lens, we also observe that some elements of the corporate governance system supplement firm-level resources and capabilities, thus having direct effects on firm competitive behaviour as well.

Keywords: corporate governance; firm resources; firm capabilities; competitive behaviour; motivation; agency theory.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSCM.2009.031408

International Journal of Strategic Change Management, 2009 Vol.1 No.4, pp.293 - 318

Published online: 02 Feb 2010 *

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