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The Impact of Industry Classification Schemes on Financial Research

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  • Christian Weiner

Abstract

This paper investigates industry classification systems. During the last 50 years there has been a considerable discussion of problems regarding the classification of economic data by industries. From my perspective, the central point of each classification is to determine a balance between aggregation of similar firms and differentiation between industries. This paper examines the structure and content of industrial classification schemes and how they affect financial research. I use classification systems provided by the Worldscope and the Compustat database. First, this study gives a detailed description of the structure and methodology of industrial classification systems and the relevance in leading finance and accounting journals. Second, I construct a benchmark classification system to measure the performance of different systems and provide evidence that some systems a more homogeneous in terms of value drivers than others. Third, I examine how multiple valuation is influenced by industry classification and show that the results vary significantly for different systems.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Weiner, 2005. "The Impact of Industry Classification Schemes on Financial Research," SFB 649 Discussion Papers SFB649DP2005-062, Sonderforschungsbereich 649, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:hum:wpaper:sfb649dp2005-062
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    3. Tobias Keller & Martin Glaum & Andreas Bausch & Thorsten Bunz, 2023. "The “CEO in context” technique revisited: A replication and extension of Hambrick and Quigley (2014)," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(4), pages 1111-1138, April.
    4. Abdul-Rahman Khokhar, 2019. "Working Capital Investment: A Comparative Study - Canada Versus the United States," Multinational Finance Journal, Multinational Finance Journal, vol. 23(1-2), pages 65-102, March - J.
    5. Rian Dolphin & Barry Smyth & Ruihai Dong, 2023. "Industry Classification Using a Novel Financial Time-Series Case Representation," Papers 2305.00245, arXiv.org.
    6. Rudolph, Christin & Schwetzler, Bernhard, 2014. "Mountain or molehill? Downward biases in the conglomerate discount measure," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 420-431.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    industry classification;

    JEL classification:

    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • M40 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - General

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