Small-v-large firms in Australian manufacturing

The measurement of the relative efficiency of the sub-groups of large and small enterprises in each Australian manufacturing industry is undertaken in this study using two concepts of efficiency. Technical efficiency is assessed in relation to an estimated frontier production function while economic efficiency is expressed in terms of a sales based price-cost margin — a proxy for profitability. The large enterprises were found, for the most part, to be more technically efficient than the small. In terms of the profitability measure the small firms were just as likely to be the more efficient in any industry. They were generally more dispersed around the mean of both efficiency measures than were the large. The industries in which the large (or small) firms were found to be more technically efficient were not necessarily the industries for which the large (or small) firms were the more profitable. The study highlights the relationships between technical and economic efficiency and emphasises the need for careful definition of the concept efficiency when making comparisons of performance among enterprises.