IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ukc/ukcedp/1309.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Industry, firm, year and country effects on profitability in EU food processing

Author

Listed:
  • Jan Schiefer
  • Stefan Hirsch
  • Monika Hartmann
  • Adelina Gschwandtner

Abstract

We decompose the variance of food industry return-on-assets into industry, firm, year and country effects. After determining significance in a nested ANOVA, we estimate the magnitude using components of variance in a large sample of corporations. As a robustness check, we estimate a multilevel model that additionally allows us to estimate the impact of several covariates at each level. The results show that firm characteristics are more important than industry structure in determining food industry profitability. In particular, firm size seems to be an important driver of profitability while firm risk, age and, surprisingly market share have a negative influence.

Suggested Citation

  • 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.
  • Handle: RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:1309
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.kent.ac.uk/economics/repec/1309.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. R. E. Caves & M. E. Porter, 1977. "From Entry Barriers to Mobility Barriers: Conjectural Decisions and Contrived Deterrence to New Competition," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 91(2), pages 241-261.
    2. Dorsey, Sarah & Boland, Michael, 2009. "The Impact of Integration Strategies on Food Business Firm Value," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(3), pages 585-598, December.
    3. Mike Artis & Hans-Martin Krolzig & Juan Toro, 2004. "The European business cycle," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 1-44, January.
    4. Anita M. McGahan & Michael E. Porter, 1999. "The Persistence of Shocks to Profitability," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 81(1), pages 143-153, February.
    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. Adelina Gschwandtner, 2005. "Profit persistence in the 'very' long run: evidence from survivors and exiters," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(7), pages 793-806.
    7. Maruyama, Nobuhiro & Odagiri, Hiroyuki, 2002. "Does the 'persistence of profits' persist?: a study of company profits in Japan, 1964-97," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(10), pages 1513-1533, December.
    8. Geroski, Paul A & Jacquemin, Alexis, 1988. "The Persistence of Profits: A European Comparison," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(391), pages 375-389, June.
    9. Gilbert,Richard J. & Kahn,Edward P. (ed.), 1996. "International Comparisons of Electricity Regulation," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521495905, January.
    10. 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.
    11. Karp, Larry S & Perloff, Jeffrey M, 1989. "Dynamic Oligopoly in the Rice Export Market," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 71(3), pages 462-470, August.
    12. John Goddard & Manouche Tavakoli & John Wilson, 2005. "Determinants of profitability in European manufacturing and services: evidence from a dynamic panel model," Applied Financial Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(18), pages 1269-1282.
    13. Richard J. Sexton, 2000. "Industrialization and Consolidation in the U.S. Food Sector: Implications for Competition and Welfare," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 82(5), pages 1087-1104.
    14. Ramos, Raul & Clar, Miquel & Surinach, Jordi, 2003. "National versus sectoral shocks: new evidence for the manufacturing sector in European countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(2), pages 241-245, February.
    15. 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.
    16. Clark, Todd E. & van Wincoop, Eric, 2001. "Borders and business cycles," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 59-85, October.
    17. Catherine D. Wolfram, 1999. "Measuring Duopoly Power in the British Electricity Spot Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(4), pages 805-826, September.
    18. 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.
    19. Stefan Hirsch & Adelina Gschwandtner, 2013. "Profit persistence in the food industry: evidence from five European countries," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 40(5), pages 741-759, December.
    20. 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.
    21. John E. Prescott & Ajay K. Kohli & N. Venkatraman, 1986. "The market share‐profitability relationship: An empirical assessment of major assertions and contradictions," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(4), pages 377-394, July.
    22. Mueller,Dennis C., 2009. "Profits in the Long Run," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521101592, January.
    23. Timothy F. Bresnahan & Peter C. Reiss, 1985. "Dealer and Manufacturer Margins," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(2), pages 253-268, Summer.
    24. Cotterill, Ronald W, 1986. "Market Power in the Retail Food Industry: Evidence from Vermont," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 68(3), pages 379-386, August.
    25. John M. Connor, 1981. "Food Product Proliferation: A Market Structure Analysis," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 63(4), pages 607-617.
    26. Schmalensee, Richard, 1985. "Do Markets Differ Much?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 341-351, June.
    27. Loderer, Claudio & Waelchli, Urs, 2010. "Firm age and performance," MPRA Paper 26450, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    28. Valerie Y. Suslow, 1986. "Estimating Monopoly Behavior with Competitive Recycling: An Application to Alcoa," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(3), pages 389-403, Autumn.
    29. Slater, Stanley F. & Olson, Eric M., 2002. "A fresh look at industry and market analysis," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 15-22.
    30. Goddard, J. A. & Wilson, J. O. S., 1999. "The persistence of profit: a new empirical interpretation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 663-687, July.
    31. Robert H. Porter, 1983. "A Study of Cartel Stability: The Joint Executive Committee, 1880-1886," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(2), pages 301-314, Autumn.
    32. Joyce J. Wann & Sexton Richard J., 1992. "Imperfect Competition in Multiproduct Food Industries with Application to Pear Processing," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 74(4), pages 980-990.
    33. Slade, Margaret E, 1987. "Interfirm Rivalry in a Repeated Game: An Empirical Test of Tacit Collusion," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 499-516, June.
    34. Bresnahan, Timothy F., 1981. "Departures from marginal-cost pricing in the American automobile industry : Estimates for 1977-1978," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 201-227, November.
    35. 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.
    36. Ramon E. Lopez, 1985. "Supply Response and Investment in the Canadian Food Processing Industry," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 67(1), pages 40-48.
    37. André Sapir & Marco Buti, 1998. "Economic policy in EMU," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/8078, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    38. Sexton, Richard J. & Lavoie, Nathalie, 2001. "Food processing and distribution: An industrial organization approach," Handbook of Agricultural Economics, in: B. L. Gardner & G. C. Rausser (ed.), Handbook of Agricultural Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 15, pages 863-932, Elsevier.
    39. M. V. Posner, 1961. "International Trade And Technical Change," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 13(3), pages 323-341.
    40. 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.
    41. Aviv Nevo & Catherine Wolfram, 2002. "Why Do Manufacturers Issue Coupons? An Empirical Analysis of Breakfast Cereals," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(2), pages 319-339, Summer.
    42. 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.
    43. Adelina Gschwandtner, 2005. "Profit persistence in the 'very' long run: evidence from survivors and exiters," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(7), pages 793-806.
    44. 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.
    45. Joshua D. Angrist & Kathryn Graddy & Guido W. Imbens, 2000. "The Interpretation of Instrumental Variables Estimators in Simultaneous Equations Models with an Application to the Demand for Fish," Review of Economic Studies, Oxford University Press, vol. 67(3), pages 499-527.
    46. S.A. Lippman & R.P. Rumelt, 1982. "Uncertain Imitability: An Analysis of Interfirm Differences in Efficiency under Competition," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 13(2), pages 418-438, Autumn.
    47. Tremblay, Victor J, 1985. "Strategic Groups and the Demand for Beer," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(2), pages 183-198, December.
    48. Mueller, Dennis C, 1977. "The Persistence of Profits above the Norm," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 44(176), pages 369-380, November.
    49. Gabriel Hawawini & Venkata Subban Subramanian & Paul Verdin, 2005. "Is performance driven by industry or firm-specific factors? A response to McNamara, Aime and Vaaler," ULB Institutional Repository 2013/14192, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    50. Bresnahan, Timothy F., 1989. "Empirical studies of industries with market power," Handbook of Industrial Organization, in: R. Schmalensee & R. Willig (ed.), Handbook of Industrial Organization, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 17, pages 1011-1057, Elsevier.
    51. Christoph R. Weiss & Antje Wittkopp, 2005. "Retailer concentration and product innovation in food manufacturing," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 219-244, June.
    52. Sara Schumacher & Michael Boland, 2005. "The effects of industry and firm resources on profitability in the food economy," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(1), pages 97-108.
    53. Andrzej Szymanski & Matthew Gorton & Lionel Hubbard, 2007. "A Comparative Analysis of Firm Performance in Post-socialist Economies: Evidence from the Polish Food Processing Industry," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(4), pages 433-448.
    54. Porter, Robert H, 1985. "On the Incidence and Duration of Price Wars," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(4), pages 415-426, June.
    55. Teece, David J, 1981. "Internal Organization and Economic Performance: An Empirical Analysis of the Profitability of Principal Firms," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(2), pages 173-199, December.
    56. B. Burcin Yurtoglu, 2004. "Persistence of firm-level profitability in Turkey," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(6), pages 615-625.
    57. Ollinger, Michael & MacDonald, James, 2000. "Poultry Plants Lowering Production Costs and Increasing Variety," Food Review/ National Food Review, United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service, vol. 23(2), pages 1-6.
    58. Sidney G. Winter, 2003. "Understanding dynamic capabilities," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(10), pages 991-995, October.
    59. Richard P. Rumelt, 1991. "How much does industry matter?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 167-185, March.
    60. Waring, Geoffrey F, 1996. "Industry Differences in the Persistence of Firm-Specific Returns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(5), pages 1253-1265, December.
    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. Giorgio Calcagnini & Annalisa Ferrando & Germana Giombini, 2015. "Multiple market imperfections, firm profitability and investment," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 95-120, August.
    2. Stefan Hirsch & Monika Hartmann, 2014. "Persistence of firm-level profitability in the European dairy processing industry," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 53-63, November.
    3. Alfredo Grau & Araceli Reig, 2021. "Operating leverage and profitability of SMEs: agri-food industry in Europe," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(1), pages 221-242, June.

    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. Stefan Hirsch & Jan Schiefer, 2016. "What Causes Firm Profitability Variation in the EU Food Industry? A Redux of Classical Approaches of Variance Decomposition," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(1), pages 79-92, January.
    2. Stefan Hirsch & Monika Hartmann, 2014. "Persistence of firm-level profitability in the European dairy processing industry," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 45(S1), pages 53-63, November.
    3. Schiefer, Jan & Hartmann, Monika, 2013. "Industry, firm, year, and country effects on profitability in EU food processing," Discussion Papers 162878, University of Bonn, Institute for Food and Resource Economics.
    4. 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).
    5. 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.
    6. Stefan Hirsch & Adelina Gschwandtner, 2013. "Profit persistence in the food industry: evidence from five European countries," European Review of Agricultural Economics, Foundation for the European Review of Agricultural Economics, vol. 40(5), pages 741-759, December.
    7. Stefan Hirsch, 2018. "Successful In The Long Run: A Meta†Regression Analysis Of Persistent Firm Profits," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(1), pages 23-49, February.
    8. Juan Carlos Bou & Albert Satorra, 2003. "The persistence of abnormal returns at industry and firm levels," Economics Working Papers 729, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    9. Adelina Gschwandtner & Stefan Hirsch, 2018. "What Drives Firm Profitability? A Comparison of the US and EU Food Processing Industry," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 86(3), pages 390-416, June.
    10. Stefan Hirsch & David Lanter & Robert Finger, 2021. "Profitability and profit persistence in EU food retailing: Differences between top competitors and fringe firms," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 37(2), pages 235-263, April.
    11. Schiefer, Jan & Hartmann, Monika, 2009. "Industry, firm, year, and country effects on profitability: Evidence from a large sample of EU food processing firms," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49322, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Johan E. Eklund & Emma Lappi, 2019. "Persistence of profits in the EU: how competitive are EU member countries?," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 46(2), pages 327-351, May.
    13. Fabio R. Chaddad & Mario P. Mondelli, 2013. "Sources of Firm Performance Differences in the US Food Economy," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(2), pages 382-404, June.
    14. 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.
    15. Spyridon Stavropoulos & Martijn J. Burger & Dimitris Skuras, 2015. "Data Sparseness and Variance in Accounting Profitability," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 15-014/VII, Tinbergen Institute.
    16. 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.
    17. Hernan Etiennot & Roberto Vassolo & Francisco Diaz Hermelo & Anita McGahan, 2019. "How do industry and country impact firm performance? A national and supranational analysis," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 791-821, August.
    18. Johan E. Eklund & Emma Lappi, 2018. "Product regulations and persistence of profits: OECD evidence," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 54(2), pages 147-164, October.
    19. Lanter, David & Hirsch, Stefan & Finger, Robert, 2018. "Profitability and Competition in EU Food Retailing," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 274202, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    20. Tammy L. Madsen & Michael J. Leiblein, 2015. "What Factors Affect the Persistence of an Innovation Advantage?," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 52(8), pages 1097-1127, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ROA; decomposition; variance components; MBV; RBV;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L00 - Industrial Organization - - General - - - General
    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • L66 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - Food; Beverages; Cosmetics; Tobacco

    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:ukc:ukcedp:1309. 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: Dr Anirban Mitra (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.kent.ac.uk/economics/ .

    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.