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Value Creation and Competitive Advantage: Empirical Evidence from Dividend Champions of the S&P 500

The aim of the paper is to verify, through the measurement of value creation, the existence of a competitive advantage in those companies recognized as “Dividend Champions” in the S&P 500. The paper uses a quantitative and explorative method of research and is divided into two sections: in the first, it identifies, within the S&P 500, those companies that have systematically, for more than 40 years, distributed dividends that have grown each year (60 firms), and in the second, it gives a comparative analysis of the Return on Invested Capital and Weighted Average Cost of Capital of the analysed firms, in order to investigate the existence of a competitive advantage. The results of our research show that the “Dividend Champions” have, in comparison to their main competitors of reference in the US market, a lasting competitive advantage, in virtue of a higher profitability with respect to the cost of capital. Specifically, we can observe that the “Dividend Champions”, classified by sector, are also “Value Champions”, able to beat competitors and having a lasting competitive advantage