Dominant stockownership and profitability

Dominant stockholders can acquire variable amounts of control over a firm's performance. The amount of control depends largely on both the incentive and power to dominate the firm's decision-making process. Ceteris paribus, a dominant stockholder has more incentive and power to influence firm behavior when he owns larger amounts of the firm's stock. To capture properly the effects of the separation of ownership and control this study considers a continuous relation between stockownership and control. This formulation allows for variable degrees of stockholder control, and suggests a critical minimum percentage of stockownership necessary for constraining managerial behavior.     

Overeducation, wages and promotions within the firm

We analyse data from personnel records of a large firm producing energy and telecommunication and test for the effect of deviations between required and attained education of workers. Required education is measured as hiring standards set by the firm. We find the usual effects of over- and undereducation in a wage regression, thus rejecting the argument that such effects are exclusively due to firm fixed effects. Distinguishing, within the firm, between a sheltered internal labour market and an exposed external labour market, we find that at the internal labour market over- and undereducation significantly affect career development, in particular at younger ages, but that such effects are mostly absent at the firm's external labour market.     

Entry,exit and profitability

In this paper arguments are set forward explaining the interrelationship between the entry and exit decision. The simultaneous effect of entry and exit on profitability for some Belgian sectors is studied. The empirical results seem to suggest that future research in this area has to take into account the link between entry and exit.     

Stochastic amortization and manufacturing profitability

The quantitative analysis of manufacturing operations usually considers the amortization of physical assets, and allows for the cost of such assets in product prices. Typically, this involves the use of an asset's P/A ratio, where P is its initial cost and A is the net cash-flow or profit it generates in unit time. The simplest case, regarding asset life as fixed, is seldom credible, and a more realistic approach is to model the stochastic nature of asset lifetimes. In this paper, we demonstrate the efficacy of the strategy of calculating an average P/A, and show that the earning power of assets should increase with variability in lifetimes. We then argue that pricings based around this average are most useful with large numbers of assets, and that analysis of a small number requires a more considered approach. Finally, we consider the impact of estimating lifetime parameters on the approaches outlined.     

Liquidity creation and bank profitability

This paper examines the effect of liquidity creation on bank profitability. Using a panel of US banks, we find that liquidity creation is associated with higher profitability. This result holds during normal times and the financial crisis, and for banks of different sizes. When we decompose liquidity creation into its individual components, we find that liability-side and off-balance sheet liquidity creation are positively related to profitability, while asset-side liquidity creation is negatively related to profitability.     

Price promotions as a threat to brands

Manufacturers frequently resist heavy discounting of their products by retailers. Since low prices should increase demand and manufacturers could simply refuse to fund deep price promotions, such resistance is puzzling at first sight. We develop a model in which price promotions cause shoppers to evaluate the relative importance of quality and price against a market-wide reference point. With deep discounting, consumers perceive quality differences as less pronounced, eroding brand value and the bargaining position of brand manufacturers. This reduces their profits and may even lead to a delisting of their products. By linking price promotions to increased one-stop shopping and more intense retail competition, our theory also offers an explanation for the rise of store brands.     

旅游景点广告促销刍议

旅游景点是指可供旅游者或游客参观游览或开展其他休闲活动的场所,其地理概念可大可小,大可至城市、景区,小不限于一座建筑或一处故居.它作为旅游业依托的客体,在旅游业发展过程中有着重要的地位和作用.     

Corporate borrowing and profitability in India

This paper examines effects of different types of corporate borrowing on firm profitability in India. We show that in contrast to the conventional thinking on the importance of monitored debt in determining firm performance, what matters more is arm's‐length lending in the form of fixed deposits in influencing firm profitability. We argue that the strategic implications of fixed deposits can be mainly attributed to the fact that they are both unsecured and privately held, which make the creditors associated with this type of debt the most likely to monitor firms' performance. The results suggest that debt structure matters, and it is important to take into account institutional differences and the heterogeneity of debt in the analysis of capital structure on firm performance. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The profitability of vertical integration

This paper examines the profitability of vertical integration using alternate indices of vertical integration Our results suggest that the profitability-vertical integration relation is highly sensitive to the specification of the vertical integration measure used.     

The profitability of currency speculation

This paper presents the results of a post-sample simulation of a speculative strategy using a portfolio of foreign currency forward contracts. The main new features of the speculative strategy are (a) the use of Kalman filters to updata the forecasting equation, (b) the allowance for transactions costs and margin requirements and (c) the endogeneous determination of the leveraging of the portfolio. While the forecasting model tended to overestimate profit and underestimate risk, the strategy was still profitable over a three year period and it was possible to reject the hypothesis that the sum of profits was zero.     

Commonality,macroeconomic factors and banking profitability

We study banks’ profitability in the US economy by means of dynamic factor models. Our results emphasize the importance of a few common cyclical market factors that greatly determine banking profitability. We conduct exhaustive regressions in a big data set of macroeconomic variables aiming to gain interpretability of our statistical factors. This allows us to identify three main macroeconomic factors underlying banking profitability: the financial burden of households and economic activity; household income and net worth and, in the case of ROA and ROE, stress in financial markets. We also provide an integrated perspective to analyse banks’ profitability dynamically and to inform policymakers concerned with financial stability issues, for which banks’ profitability is fundamental. Our models allow us to provide several rankings of vulnerable financial institutions considering the common market forces that we estimate. We emphasize the usefulness of such an exercise as a market-monitoring tool.     

The comparative profitability of Canadian- and foreign-controlled firms

This study analyzes factors determining the profitabilty of 750 of Canada's largest manufacturing firms, both domestic- and foreign-controlled, over the period 1968-1972. It is found that US-controlled firms were more profitable than either Canadian- or other foreign-controlled firms, when various firm- and industry-specific factors are held constant. In addition, the higher was the degree of non-resident (presumably American) ownership, the more profitable were US-controlled firms. The reverse was true of other foreign firms. These results for US firms are consistent with the Hymer–Caves and internalization approaches to the multinational corporation. However, the results for other firms are not, thus suggesting that a ‘general’ theory of the multinational corporation has yet to be forwarded.     

Advertising and the profitability of leading and following firms

This study finds a significant positive effect of advertising on profit rates for both leading, large following and small following firms in US industry. This finding is consistent with an intangible capital view of advertising, but is clearly inconsistent with the “competing” barrier to entry or barrier to mobility hypothesis. Thus, further support is gained for the view that few, if any, harmful consequences for competition arise due to high advertising intensity in industry.     

Fair bets and profitability in college football gambling

Efficient markets in college football are tested over a 25-year period, 1976–2000. the market in general is found to be efficient, but betting on underdogs of more than 28 points violates a fair bet. The strategy of betting home underdogs reveals stronger results. Home underdogs of more than seven points are found to reject the null hypotheses of a fair bet over the last 10 years of the sample, 1991–2000. Home underdogs of more than 28 points are found to reject the null of no profitability during the same time frame.     

Analyzing the underlying dimensions of firm profitability

In this paper we decompose a traditional measure for firm's performance, return on sales, into four components that capture the impact of productivity, price recovery, product mix and capacity utilization, respectively, on a firm's profitability. The new measures are used as an illustration to explain changes in the performance of firms in the US telecommunications industry following deregulation. Changes in the overall profitability margin of these firms are explained by substantial but offsetting changes in their productivity, price recovery ability, product-mix maximization and capacity utilization, that have occurred as a consequence of deregulation. The new measures enable us not only to illustrate relative differences between firms in a given cross-section but also to shed light on how changes take place over time in the different components that underlie firms' profitability.     

Decompositions of profitability change using cost functions

The paper presents a decomposition of a production unit’s cost ratio over two periods into explanatory factors. The explanatory factors are growth in the unit’s cost efficiency, output growth, changes in input prices and technical progress. In order to implement the decomposition, an estimate of the industry’s best practice cost function for the two periods under consideration is required. Profitability at a period of time is defined as the value of outputs produced by a production unit divided by the corresponding cost. Using the earlier work by Balk and O’Donnell, the paper provides a decomposition of profitability growth over two periods into various explanatory factors that are similar to the cost ratio decomposition except that change in outputs explanatory factor is replaced by two separate factors: an index of output price growth and a measure of returns to scale.     

The economic profitability of pre-IPO earnings management and IPO underperformance

The purpose of this paper is to test the market performance of a zero-investment trading strategy based on the knowledge of IPO underperformance and estimates of pre-IPO earnings management. This trading strategy is implemented by forming two-firm portfolios that take short positions in the IPOs and long positions in control firms matched by industry and market capitalization. The first test shows that significant positive abnormal returns can be earned trading on the knowledge of IPO underperformance. However, the relationship between the level of abnormal returns and the level of pre-IPO earnings management is not found to be significant. Overall, our results suggest that existent pre-IPO earnings management plays important roles although investors may not sophisticated enough to measure the level of earnings management.     

On the profitability of collusion in location games

In this note we take a first step towards the analysis of collusion in markets with spatial competition, focusing on the case of pure location choices. We find that collusion can only be profitable if a coalition contains more than half of all players. This result holds for location games played in k-dimensional Euclidean space as long as consumers are distributed via atomless density functions. For competition on the unit interval, unit circle, and unit square we also derive sufficient conditions for collusion to be profitable. The results have immediate implications for mergers in spatial markets.