The market share-profitability relationship: An empirical assessment of major assertions and contradictions

While previous research on the relationship between market share (MS) and business profitability (BP) has found a positive relationship, its nature (i.e. direct versus spurious), its context-specificity, and the validity of MS as a predictor of BP have not been adequately addressed. Employing path analysis, this study examined the nature of this relationship across a taxonomy of homogeneous environments. The major findings were that (1) the association between MS and BP is context-specific; (2) both direct and spurious relationships exist, and their relative strengths vary across environments; and (3) the validity of MS as a predictor of BP is context-specific. Further, key firm conduct variables accounting for the spuriousness have been identified. Finally, implications of these findings for managers pursuing market share as a goal are discussed.     

Accounting for South Korean GDP Growth: Index-Number and Econometric Estimates

The paper estimates the contribution of each one of the major determinants of South-Korean nominal GDP growth: technological change, movements in the terms of trade, increases in the endowments of labor and capital, and changes in domestic output prices. An index-number technique is used as well as an econometric approach. Both have a tight theoretical foundation, being based on the GDP function approach to modeling the production sector of an open economy.     

The week-of-the-month effect in stock returns: The evidence from the S&P Composite Index

Theweekend effect and theyearend effect are some of the seasonal anomalies in financial markets that have been widely discussed in the finance literature. In this paper, using weekly observations of the S&P Composite Index over the period from July 1962 through June 1990, plus several subperiods, the authors identify the presence of a thus far unknown seasonal anomaly in the form of aweek-of-the-month return pattern in the stock market. The results suggest the existence of a statistically different weekly return pattern for different weeks of a month. Specifically, the returns during the first week of a month tend to be significantly positive while the returns during the other weeks of a month are statistically indistinguishable from zero.     

The yearend effect in stock returns over business cycles: A technical note

This paper provides evidence in support of the claim that the well-knownJanuary effect is influenced by the stage of the business cycle. Using monthly data for the S&P Composite Index for the period from November 1948 through December 1988 and the standard methodology for seasonal anomalies, the authors show that theJanuary effect is present during the entire period examined as well as in the expansionary phases of that period. However, its existence was not detected during the contractionary phases of that period.     

A dynamic multi-commodity model of the agricultural sector: A regional application in Brazil

This paper develops a dynamic model to analyze the development process in the agricultural sector. Formulated as a recursive linear programming model, it contains several commodities as outputs, farm and regional resource constraints on owned and purchased inputs-including working capital-and several farm sizes. The objective function is assumed to be separable for each farm size and additive for the region and measures for each year the net expected revenues from crop and livestock production less an investment charge. Prices are exogenous. The model is applied to a rapidly developing agricultural region in Southern Brazil and tested for its ability to trace regional farm sector development over a decade. It is then used to analyze the impact of alternative agricultural policies including price and credit subsidies.     

GDP Growth Accounting: A National Income Function Approach

In this paper, we provide a decomposition of GDP growth that is complete and exact for the translog national income function and for the Törnqvist index of real GDP. The contributions of changes in output quantities, factor prices and total factor productivity are identified. Special consideration is given to foreign trade, with imports treated as a negative output. Annual estimates for the United States are reported for the period 1948–98.     

Exact Unemployment Rate Indices

Conventional unemployment rate measures tend to overestimate the degree of labor underutilization if unemployment disproportionately affects less educated and generally less productive workers. Based on index number theory as well as on econometric techniques, this article proposes a number of alternative measures that are exact for specific labor aggregator functions. The results for the United States show that the conventional, unweighted unemployment rate overestimates the true rate by about 0.6 of a percentage point, or by almost 14%.     

Market orientation: Review, refinement, and roadmap

Over the past ten years, significant progress has been made in the market orientation area. Scholarly attention has focused on the definition, measurement, and impact of a market orientation. Attention has also focused on organizational drivers of market orientation and its enhancement. Despite progress, several research challenges remain and rich opportunities exist for further work in the area. This paper critically reviews the state-of-the-art and offers a roadmap for future work in the area. The review primarily focuses on (1) the meaning of market orientation, (2) its relationship with several emerging topics/themes in the literature (e.g., market information processing, organizational learning, knowledge use, industry foresight and driving markets), (3) the quality of market-oriented behaviors, (4) impact of market orientation, and (5) issues in enhancing market orientation. We conclude with a conceptual synthesis and methodological suggestions.