IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20150014.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Data Sparseness and Variance in Accounting Profitability

Author

Listed:
  • Spyridon Stavropoulos

    (University of Patras, Greece)

  • Martijn J. Burger

    (Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands; University of Patras, Greece)

  • Dimitris Skuras

    (University of Patras, Greece)

Abstract

A central question in strategic management is why some firms perform better than others. One approach to addressing this question empirically is to decompose the variance in firm-level profitability into firm, industry, location, and year components. Although it is well established that data sparseness in variance decomposition studies can lead to overestimating particular variance components, little attention has been paid to sample size requirements in strategic management studies that have examined the nature of differences in firm profitability. We conduct a meta-regression and variance decomposition study and conclude that the variation in the results from previous studies is driven—to a considerable extent—by the number of observations per group within a component. Based on these findings, we draw conclusions regarding the validity and reliability of previo us variance decomposition studies and provide implications for current debates in the strategic management literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Spyridon Stavropoulos & Martijn J. Burger & Dimitris Skuras, 2015. "Data Sparseness and Variance in Accounting Profitability," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-014/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20150014
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/15014.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tony W Tong & Todd M Alessandri & Jeffrey J Reuer & Asda Chintakananda, 2008. "How much does country matter? An analysis of firms’ growth options," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 39(3), pages 387-405, April.
    2. Jeremy C. Short & David J. Ketchen & Timothy B. Palmer & G. Tomas M. Hult, 2007. "Firm, strategic group, and industry influences on performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(2), pages 147-167, February.
    3. Mark F Peterson & Jean-Luc Arregle & Xavier Martin, 2012. "Multilevel models in international business research," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 43(5), pages 451-457, June.
    4. Christine M. Chan & Shige Makino & Takehiko Isobe, 2010. "Does subnational region matter? Foreign affiliate performance in the United states and China," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(11), pages 1226-1243, November.
    5. Thomas H. Brush & Philip Bromiley & Margaretha Hendrickx, 1999. "The relative influence of industry and corporation on business segment performance: an alternative estimate," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(6), pages 519-547, June.
    6. Eduardo González-Fidalgo & Juan Ventura-Victoria, 2002. "How Much Do Strategic Groups Matter?," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 21(1), pages 55-71, August.
    7. Kessides, Ioannis N, 1990. "Internal versus External Market Conditions and Firm Profitability: An Exploratory Model," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 100(402), pages 773-792, September.
    8. Arend, Richard J., 2009. "Industry effects and firm effects: No effect is an island," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 651-659, June.
    9. Hawawini, Gabriel & Subramanian, Venkat & Verdin, Paul, 2004. "The home country in the age of globalization: how much does it matter for firm performance?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 121-135, May.
    10. Cora J. M. Maas & Joop J. Hox, 2004. "Robustness issues in multilevel regression analysis," Statistica Neerlandica, Netherlands Society for Statistics and Operations Research, vol. 58(2), pages 127-137, May.
    11. Anita M McGahan & Rogerio Victer, 2010. "How much does home country matter to corporate profitability?," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 41(1), pages 142-165, January.
    12. Claver, Enrique & Molina, José & Tarí, Juan, 2002. "Firm and Industry Effects on Firm Profitability:: a Spanish Empirical Analysis," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 321-328, June.
    13. Gabriel Hawawini & Venkat Subramanian & Paul Verdin, 2005. "Is performance driven by industry‐ or firm‐specific factors? A reply to McNamara, Aime, and Vaaler," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(11), pages 1083-1086, November.
    14. Gabriel Hawawini & Venkat Subramanian & Paul Verdin, 2003. "Is performance driven by industry‐or firm‐specific factors? A new look at the evidence," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 1-16, January.
    15. Henri L.F. de Groot & Jacques Poot & Martijn J. Smit, 2007. "Agglomeration, Innovation and Regional Development: Theoretical Perspectives and Meta-Analysis," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 07-079/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    16. Frank Neffke & Martin Svensson Henning, 2009. "Skill-relatedness and firm diversification," Papers on Economics and Evolution 2009-06, Philipps University Marburg, Department of Geography, revised Oct 2010.
    17. Thomas H. Brush & Philip Bromiley, 1997. "What does a small corporate effect mean? A variance components simulation of corporate and business effects," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(10), pages 825-835, November.
    18. Baltagi, Badi H. & Chang, Young-Jae, 1994. "Incomplete panels : A comparative study of alternative estimators for the unbalanced one-way error component regression model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 62(2), pages 67-89, June.
    19. Schmalensee, Richard, 1985. "Do Markets Differ Much?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 341-351, June.
    20. Frank G. van Oort & Martijn J. Burger & Joris Knoben & Otto Raspe, 2012. "Multilevel Approaches And The Firm-Agglomeration Ambiguity In Economic Growth Studies," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 468-491, July.
    21. Ketelhöhn, Niels W. & Quintanilla, Carlos, 2012. "Country effects on profitability: A multilevel approach using a sample of Central American firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(12), pages 1767-1772.
    22. Xufei Ma & Tony W Tong & Markus Fitza, 2013. "How much does subnational region matter to foreign subsidiary performance? Evidence from Fortune Global 500 Corporations’ investment in China," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 44(1), pages 66-87, January.
    23. McGahan, Anita M, 1999. "The Performance of US Corporations: 1981-1994," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(4), pages 373-398, December.
    24. Jeff Gill & Gary King, 2004. "What to Do When Your Hessian is Not Invertible," Sociological Methods & Research, , vol. 33(1), pages 54-87, August.
    25. Anita M. McGahan & Michael E. Porter, 2002. "What Do We Know About Variance in Accounting Profitability?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 48(7), pages 834-851, July.
    26. Klepper, Steven, 1997. "Industry Life Cycles," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(1), pages 145-181.
    27. Roberta Capello & Peter Nijkamp (ed.), 2009. "Handbook of Regional Growth and Development Theories," Books, Edward Elgar Publishing, number 12874.
    28. Shige Makino & Takehiko Isobe & Christine M. Chan, 2004. "Does country matter?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(10), pages 1027-1043, October.
    29. Gerry McNamara & Federico Aime & Paul M. Vaaler, 2005. "Is performance driven by industry‐ or firm‐specific factors? A response to Hawawini, Subramanian, and Verdin," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(11), pages 1075-1081, November.
    30. Tim Jeppesen & John A. List & Henk Folmer, 2002. "Environmental Regulations and New Plant Location Decisions: Evidence from a Meta‐Analysis," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 19-49, February.
    31. Goldszmidt, Rafael G. Burstein & Brito, Luiz Artur Ledur & de Vasconcelos, Flávio Carvalho, 2011. "Country effect on firm performance: A multilevel approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 64(3), pages 273-279, March.
    32. Goddard, John & Tavakoli, Manouche & Wilson, John O.S., 2009. "Sources of variation in firm profitability and growth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 495-508, April.
    33. ANITA M. McGAHAN & MICHAEL E. PORTER, 1997. "How Much Does Industry Matter, Really?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(S1), pages 15-30, July.
    34. Margaret A. Peteraf & Jay B. Barney, 2003. "Unraveling the resource-based tangle," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(4), pages 309-323.
    35. Sea‐Jin Chang & Harbir Singh, 2000. "Corporate and industry effects on business unit competitive position," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(7), pages 739-752, July.
    36. Eriksen, Bo & Knudsen, Thorbjorn, 2003. "Industry and firm level interaction: Implications for profitability," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 191-199, March.
    37. Richard P. Rumelt, 1991. "How much does industry matter?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 167-185, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bart S. Vanneste, 2017. "How Much Do Industry, Corporation, and Business Matter, Really? A Meta-Analysis," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(2), pages 121-139, June.
    2. Andrews, Daniel S. & Meyer, Klaus E., 2023. "How much does host country matter, really?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).

    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. Ketelhöhn, Niels W. & Quintanilla, Carlos, 2012. "Country effects on profitability: A multilevel approach using a sample of Central American firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 65(12), pages 1767-1772.
    2. Goddard, John & Tavakoli, Manouche & Wilson, John O.S., 2009. "Sources of variation in firm profitability and growth," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 495-508, April.
    3. Vicente López-López & Susana Iglesias-Antelo & Esteban Fernández, 2020. "Is Sustainable Performance Explained by Firm Effect in Small Business?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Bart S. Vanneste, 2017. "How Much Do Industry, Corporation, and Business Matter, Really? A Meta-Analysis," Strategy Science, INFORMS, vol. 2(2), pages 121-139, June.
    5. Andonova, Veneta & Ruíz-Pava, Guillermo, 2016. "The role of industry factors and intangible assets in company performance in Colombia," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(10), pages 4377-4384.
    6. Dmitry Sharapov & Paul Kattuman & Diego Rodriguez & F. Javier Velazquez, 2021. "Using the SHAPLEY value approach to variance decomposition in strategy research: Diversification, internationalization, and corporate group effects on affiliate profitability," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(3), pages 608-623, March.
    7. Sarada Devi Gadepalli & Arindam Mondal, 2018. "Sources of Business Unit Performance Heterogeneity in India: The Influence of Ownership," Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, , vol. 43(4), pages 207-221, December.
    8. Jan Schiefer & Stefan Hirsch & Monika Hartmann & Adelina Gschwandtner, 2013. "Industry, firm, year and country effects on profitability in EU food processing," Studies in Economics 1309, School of Economics, University of Kent.
    9. Raza, Syed Ali & Farooq, M. Shoaib & Khan, Nadeem, 2011. "Firm and industry effects on firm profitability: an empirical analysis of KSE," MPRA Paper 36797, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Vassiliki Bamiatzi & Konstantinos Bozos & S. Tamer Cavusgil & G. Tomas M. Hult, 2016. "Revisiting the firm, industry, and country effects on profitability under recessionary and expansion periods: A multilevel analysis," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(7), pages 1448-1471, July.
    11. Pankaj Kumar & Xiaojin Liu & Akbar Zaheer, 2022. "How much does the firm's alliance network matter?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(8), pages 1433-1468, August.
    12. N. Houthoofd & S. Desmidt & G. Fidalgo, 2009. "Analyzing Firm Performance Heterogeneity: The Relative Effect Of Business Definition," Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium 09/580, Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration.
    13. Andrews, Daniel S. & Meyer, Klaus E., 2023. "How much does host country matter, really?," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 58(2).
    14. Chen, Yi-Min, 2010. "The continuing debate on firm performance: A multilevel approach to the IT sectors of Taiwan and South Korea," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 63(5), pages 471-478, May.
    15. Zouaghi, Ferdaous & Hirsch, Stefan & Garcia, Mercedes Sanchez, 2016. "What Drives Firm Profitability? A Multilevel Approach To The Spanish Agri-Food Sector," 56th Annual Conference, Bonn, Germany, September 28-30, 2016 244762, German Association of Agricultural Economists (GEWISOLA).
    16. Guangrui Guo, 2017. "Demystifying variance in performance: A longitudinal multilevel perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 1327-1342, June.
    17. Peregrino de Brito, Renata & Artur Ledur Brito, Luiz, 2020. "The influence of institutional changes on industry effects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 610-618.
    18. Julia, 2011. "About some difficulties with interpreting and measuring corporate performance," Bank i Kredyt, Narodowy Bank Polski, vol. 42(5), pages 41-60.
    19. Yi-Min Chen, 2008. "How Much Does Country Matter?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 31(4), pages 404-435, October.
    20. Weiß, Christian, 2010. "The Ownership Concentration of Firms: Three Essays on the Determinants and Effects," EconStor Theses, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, number 30247, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm profitability; variance decomposition; data sparseness; meta-analysis;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C18 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Methodolical Issues: General
    • L16 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Industrial Organization and Macroeconomics; Macroeconomic Industrial Structure
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:tin:wpaper:20150014. 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: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    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.