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I'm not sure that having a minority interest provides you with less value. When you buy a stock, you are buying a part of the abilities of the management to direct the activities of the company along with a piece of all its assets, future profits and current cash flows. So in order for a minority interest to be worth less, that would be saying that you could do a better job than the current management, and most investors are not willing to spend the huge amounts of time to run a company, so instead they buy a piece of the company, with one of the intangible assets being managements ability.

I think it might actually be the reverse of what you are saying. The reason you have to pay a premium for getting a majority interest is because to do so you have to bid up the price of a stock by buying over half of it. A controlling interest is worth enough to you--economies of scale, you can use the assets better etc.--to bid up the price of the stock and pay a premium over normal value. The difference between the person taking a controlling interest and the real value is the premium you have to pay and seems to me the discount you would be referring to. So the discount comes out of someone who needs a controlling interest's pocket, not a value investors valuation.

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Minority discount is worth different amounts in different countries, due to laws and regulations in some countries being more shareholder-friendly than others. But that it should exist is fairly obvious. It's not about the competence of the management per se, but rather the possibility that the management would put their own interests over those of minority shareholders.