The article investigates how corporate governance affects firm performance in the U.S. using Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) instead of the dominant Agency Theory (AT). The researchers found that conflicting results in AT studies are due to not applying the theories correctly. They developed a new model based on TCE and a lifecycle theory of the firm to show how corporate governance changes as a company grows, impacting its performance. They also created a new measure of financial autonomy called the A-index.