Ownership competence

Abstract

Ownership is fundamental to firm strategy, organization, and governance. Standard ownership concepts—mainly derived from agency and incomplete contracting theories—focus on its incentive effects. However, these concepts and theories neglect ownership's role as an instrument to match judgment about resource use and governance with the firm's evolving environment under uncertainty. We develop the concept of ownership competence—the skill with which ownership is used as an instrument to create value—and decompose it into matching competence (whatto own), governance competence (howto own), and timing competence (whento own). We describe how property rights of use, appropriation, and transfer relate to the three ownership competences and show how our theory offers a fresh perspective into the role of ownership for value generation. Business owners own with different levels of competence, and differences in ownership competence matter for value creation. We argue that ownership competence consists of competence aboutwhatto own (matching competence), competence abouthowto own (governance competence), and competence aboutwhento own (timing competence). We clarify the role played by each of the three competences for value creation. We also show how the importance of ownership competence for value creation alters depending on ownership concentration, life cycle effects, uncertainty of the environment, and the efficiency of resource markets. With our paper, we prepare the ground for a fuller understanding of the strategic role of owners for value creation.