Abstract
This study explores how corporate brand equity benefits from unique heritage resources built up by firms over a long time period. A heritage resource-based view (HRBV) framework is proposed to verify that culture, entrepreneurship and proprietary knowledge act as complementary resources ensuring competitiveness. Our novel perspective uses an in-depth survey of 208 long lifespan firms to examine the mediating effects of continuous capability development on brand equity, when it is impacted by the differential effects of heritage. Our findings provide managerial precision to quantifiable determinants of corporate heritage by emphasizing how unique heritage resources, when moderated by a firm’s inheritance mechanisms, can be leveraged to strengthen internal capabilities and brand equity. A sample of privately owned and state-owned firms, is examined, using multigroup analysis, to highlight how those firms that exploit their benefits from enhanced heritage resources and organizational capabilities are able to optimize their corporate brand equity.