Research on the factors through which firms achieve above-average performance by securing differentiated competitive advantages has been conducted across various industries and research domains. The resource-based view, which explains the sources of competitive advantage based on resources possessed by firms; the knowledge-based view, which explains them through the creation and diffusion of core knowledge within firms; and the environment-based view, which centers on the environment surrounding firms, have all gained persuasiveness through extensive research. This study aims to explain firm performance through empirical research from a mechanism perspective for securing dynamic competitive advantage. This study is an empirical investigation of the effects of agent, environment, resource, and mechanism factors on firm performance according to the firm's growth stage. The research sample comprised a total of 150 firms, distributed as 41 firms in the startup stage, 77 firms in the growth stage, and 32 firms in the maturity stage. The analysis results revealed that in the startup stage, the experience factor of the management agent had a significant effect on firm performance, while environmental factors were found to have a greater influence on firm performance in the growth and maturity stages than in the startup stage. Resource factors were found to be significant for firm performance in both the startup and growth stages, and selection mechanism factors were found to affect performance differently at each growth stage depending on the specific sub-factors. Learning mechanism factors were found to have a significant effect on firm performance in the growth and maturity stages, and external coordination factors were found to have a significant effect on firm performance in the startup stage. Overall, the factors analyzed were found to differentially affect firm performance across the startup, growth, and maturity stages.