Competitive advantage in the Brazilian telecommunications market: An analysis founded upon the resource-based view in the post-privatization period

This paper examines which resources were responsible for the superior performance, between 1999 and 2008, of companies in the Brazilian telecommunications sector after privatization. The study methodology was founded on the Resource-Based View (RBV) and used data envelopment analysis (DEA) to investigate companies’ performance. Using the performance ratings generated by the DEA model, we performed a multiple regression in which the independent variables were tangible and intangible organizational resources, to investigate the relevance of such resources to business performance. As tangible assets, we evaluated the relevance of the customer base in telephone access and revenue generating units (RGUs), and the product portfolio offered by the organization. As intangible factors, we analyzed Tobin’s Q, trademarks and the origin of the capital that privatized each organization. All tangible resources and origin of capital evaluated were relevant to determine a company’s performance. Therefore, network effects and a strategy based on diversification of a converging portfolio are factors that influence organizational performance in this market. Companies managed by national groups presented better performance, suggesting that part of the performance can be attributed to prior knowledge of the country where the company operates. The results reinforce the pillars of RBV, which has evolved since the criticisms of Priem and Butler with empirical tests on resources that have influence on organizational performance.   Key words: Telecommunications, privatization, competition, performance, market.