IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/
MyIDEAS: Log in (now much improved!) to save this paper

Downsizing in German Chemical Manufacturing Industry during the 1990s: Why Small Is Beautiful?

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Oleg Badunenko

Abstract

German chemical manufacturing industry is marked by two major structural changes during 1992-2004. Firstly, number of firms was ranging extensively: from 676 to 901, while only 96 firms represented balanced panel. Secondly, size of the firm dropped considerably-by 88%. This paper is intended to shed light on both phenomena. Based on reliable census data analysis suggests the former evidence be explained (i) by persistent poor performance of firms and (ii) by so called "general purpose technology" argument. The latter phenomenon was found to be a rational behaviour because numerous firms continually operated under decreasing returns to scale.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.diw.de/documents/publikationen/73/diw_01.c.63383.de/dp722.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Paper provided by DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research in its series Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin with number 722.

as
in new window

Length: 35 p.
Date of creation: 2007
Handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp722
Contact details of provider: Postal:
Mohrenstraße 58, D-10117 Berlin

Phone: xx49-30-89789-0
Fax: xx49-30-89789-200
Web page: http://www.diw.de/en
Email:


More information through EDIRC

Keywords: DEA; technical and scale efficiency; technological change; firm size; firm level data; chemical manufacturing;

Find related papers by JEL classification:

  • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
  • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
  • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
  • L65 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Chemicals; Rubber; Drugs; Biotechnology; Plastics

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

as
in new window


  1. Helpman, Elhanan & Rangel, Antonio, 1999. "Adjusting to a New Technology: Experience and Training," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 4(4), pages 359-383, December.
  2. Fare, Rolf & Grosskopf, Shawna, 1985. " Nonparametric Cost Approach to Scale Efficiency," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 87(4), pages 594-604.
  3. Gene M. Grossman & Elhanan Helpman, 2005. "Outsourcing in a Global Economy," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 72(1), pages 135-159.
  4. Baldwin,John R. & Gorecki,Paul, 1998. "The Dynamics of Industrial Competition," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521633574.
  5. David Audretsch & Julie Elston, 2006. "Can Institutional Change Impact High-technology Firm Growth?: Evidence from Germany’s Neuer Markt," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 9-23, 04.
  6. Oulton,Nicholas & O'Mahony,Mary, 1994. "Productivity and Growth," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521453455, February.
  7. Alvarez, Roberto & Crespi, Gustavo, 2003. "Determinants of Technical Efficiency in Small Firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 233-244, May.
  8. Banker, Rajiv D., 1984. "Estimating most productive scale size using data envelopment analysis," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 35-44, July.
  9. Charnes, A. & Cooper, W. W. & Rhodes, E., 1978. "Measuring the efficiency of decision making units," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 2(6), pages 429-444, November.
  10. Harald Bathelt, 2000. "Persistent structures in a turbulent world: the division of labor in the German chemical industry," Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Pion Ltd, London, vol. 18(2), pages 225-247, April.
  11. Daouia, Abdelaati & Simar, Leopold, 2007. "Nonparametric efficiency analysis: A multivariate conditional quantile approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 375-400, October.
  12. Fare, Rolf & Zelenyuk, Valentin, 2003. "On aggregate Farrell efficiencies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(3), pages 615-620, May.
  13. Cazals, Catherine & Florens, Jean-Pierre & Simar, Leopold, 2002. "Nonparametric frontier estimation: a robust approach," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 106(1), pages 1-25, January.
  14. Audretsch, David B & Elston, Julie A, 1997. "Financing the German Mittelstand," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 97-110, April.
Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

The CitEc project has not yet found citations to this item.

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Access and download statistics

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:diw:diwwpp:dp722. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Bibliothek)

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 references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link 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 profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

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

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis using RePEc data.