IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibf/ijbfre/v8y2014i5p9-22.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Comparison of the Financial Characteristics of U.S. and German Manufacturing Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Folkinshteyn
  • Ozge Uygur
  • Gulser Meric

Abstract

The U.S. and Germany rank #1 and #3, respectively, in the world, in terms of the total amount of international trade. U.S. and German firms compete with one another for a larger market share in other countries and in each other’s local markets. And yet, there are no published studies that compare the financial management practices of U.S. and German firms. In this paper, we make a contribution to the finance literature on this subject by comparing the financial characteristics of U.S. and German manufacturing firms. Our findings provide valuable insights for corporate financial managers and for investors who invest in these countries. Using a sample of 1166 firms, we find that the financial characteristics of U.S. manufacturing firms differ significantly from those of German manufacturing firms. MANOVA test results indicate that U.S. firms exhibit higher liquidity, lower debt, higher profitability, and lower total assets turnover. These findings are also supported by the logistic regression results. We suggest that better financial performance of U.S. firms could be attributed to more business-friendly employment laws and lower levels of unionization in the United States.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Folkinshteyn & Ozge Uygur & Gulser Meric, 2014. "A Comparison of the Financial Characteristics of U.S. and German Manufacturing Firms," The International Journal of Business and Finance Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 8(5), pages 9-22.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibf:ijbfre:v:8:y:2014:i:5:p:9-22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.theibfr2.com/RePEc/ibf/ijbfre/ijbfr-v8n5-2014/IJBFR-V8N5-2014-2.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Deakin, Eb, 1972. "Discriminant Analysis Of Predictors Of Business Failure," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 167-179.
    2. Edmister, Robert O., 1972. "An Empirical Test of Financial Ratio Analysis for Small Business Failure Prediction," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 1477-1493, March.
    3. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "Financial Ratios, Discriminant Analysis And The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(4), pages 589-609, September.
    4. Edward I. Altman, 1968. "The Prediction Of Corporate Bankruptcy: A Discriminant Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 23(1), pages 193-194, March.
    5. Wald, John K, 1999. "How Firm Characteristics Affect Capital Structure: An International Comparison," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 22(2), pages 161-187, Summer.
    6. John K. Wald, 1999. "How Firm Characteristics Affect Capital Structure: An International Comparison," Journal of Financial Research, Southern Finance Association;Southwestern Finance Association, vol. 22(2), pages 161-187, June.
    7. Stevens, Donald L., 1973. "Financial Characteristics of Merged Firms: A Multivariate Analysis," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 149-158, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. MERIC Gulser & BENTLEY T. Jerome & McCALL W.Charles & MERIC Ilhan, 2016. "A Comparison Of The Financial Characteristics Of U.S. And European Manufacturing Firms," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 11(2), pages 58-67, August.
    2. MERIC Gulser & GUNER Berrin & CHUNG Shifei & MERIC Ilhan, 2019. "A Comparison Of Business Management Characteristics In U.S., German, And Japanese Manufacturing Corporations," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 14(1), pages 141-153, April.
    3. MERIC Gulser & WELSH Carol & SCARPA Robert & MERIC Ilhan, 2017. "A Comparison Of The Financial Characteristics Of European And Asian Manufacturing Firms," Studies in Business and Economics, Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Faculty of Economic Sciences, vol. 12(3), pages 112-125, December.
    4. Gulser MERIC & Stephanie WEIDMAN & Carol WELSH & Ilhan MERIC, 2017. "A Comparison of the Financial Management Characteristics of UK vs. EU Manufacturing Firms," REVISTA DE MANAGEMENT COMPARAT INTERNATIONAL/REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL COMPARATIVE MANAGEMENT, Faculty of Management, Academy of Economic Studies, Bucharest, Romania, vol. 18(2), pages 138-147, May.
    5. Zhou, Fanyin & Fu, Lijun & Li, Zhiyong & Xu, Jiawei, 2022. "The recurrence of financial distress: A survival analysis," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 1100-1115.
    6. Lin, Hsiou-Wei William & Lo, Huai-Chun & Wu, Ruei-Shian, 2016. "Modeling default prediction with earnings management," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 40(PB), pages 306-322.
    7. Ilhan Meric & Christine Lentz & Sherry F. Li & Gulser Meric, 2014. "A Comparison Of The Financial Characteristics Of Hong Kong And Singapore Manufacturing Firms," Global Journal of Business Research, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 8(3), pages 31-37.
    8. Chen, An-Sing & Chu, Hsiang-Hui & Hung, Pi-Hsia & Cheng, Miao-Sih, 2020. "Financial risk and acquirers' stockholder wealth in mergers and acquisitions," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    9. Balcaen, Sofie & Ooghe, Hubert, 2006. "35 years of studies on business failure: an overview of the classic statistical methodologies and their related problems," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(1), pages 63-93.
    10. Tarek Ibrahim Eldomiaty & Mohamed Hashem Rashwan & Mohamed Bahaa El Din & Waleed Tayel, 2016. "Firm, industry and economic determinants of working capital at risk," International Journal of Financial Engineering (IJFE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(04), pages 1-29, December.
    11. Ha-Thu Nguyen, 2015. "How is credit scoring used to predict default in China?," EconomiX Working Papers 2015-1, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    12. García-Gallego, Ana & Mures-Quintana, María-Jesús, 2013. "La muestra de empresas en los modelos de predicción del fracaso: influencia en los resultados de clasificación || The Sample of Firms in Business Failure Prediction Models: Influence on Classification," Revista de Métodos Cuantitativos para la Economía y la Empresa = Journal of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Quantitative Methods for Economics and Business Administration, vol. 15(1), pages 133-150, June.
    13. M. M. Swalih & M. S. Vinod, 2017. "Application Of Altman Z Score on BSE-Greenex Companies," Journal of Applied Management and Investments, Department of Business Administration and Corporate Security, International Humanitarian University, vol. 6(3), pages 205-215, September.
    14. Ha-Thu Nguyen, 2014. "Default Predictors in Credit Scoring - Evidence from France’s Retail Banking Institution," EconomiX Working Papers 2014-26, University of Paris Nanterre, EconomiX.
    15. Ali DERAN & Omer ISKENDEROGLU & Incilay ERDURU, 2014. "Regional Differences and Financial Ratios: A Comparative Approach on Companies of ISE City Indexes," International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, Econjournals, vol. 4(4), pages 946-955.
    16. Philosophov, Leonid V. & Philosophov, Vladimir L., 2002. "Corporate bankruptcy prognosis: An attempt at a combined prediction of the bankruptcy event and time interval of its occurrence," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 375-406.
    17. Nicoleta Barbuta-Misu, 2012. "Aggregated Index for Modelling the Influence of Financial Variables on Enterprise Performance," EuroEconomica, Danubius University of Galati, issue 2(31), pages 155-165, May.
    18. Andrea Bedin & Monica Billio & Michele Costola & Loriana Pelizzon, 2019. "Credit Scoring in SME Asset-Backed Securities: An Italian Case Study," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-28, May.
    19. fernández, María t. Tascón & gutiérrez, Francisco J. Castaño, 2012. "Variables y Modelos Para La Identificación y Predicción Del Fracaso Empresarial: Revisión de La Investigación Empírica Reciente," Revista de Contabilidad - Spanish Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 7-58.
    20. Layla Khoja & Maxwell Chipulu & Ranadeva Jayasekera, 2016. "Analysing corporate insolvency in the Gulf Cooperation Council using logistic regression and multidimensional scaling," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 483-518, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Financial Ratios; Manufacturing; United States; Germany; MANOVA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibf:ijbfre:v:8:y:2014:i:5:p:9-22. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Mercedes Jalbert (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.