IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jjieco/v25y2011i2p1-11.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What drives the profitability of Japanese multi-business corporations? A variance components analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Fukui, Yoshitaka
  • Ushijima, Tatsuo

Abstract

This article decomposes the business-level profit rate of Japanese multi-business corporations by performing a variance components analysis on a large sample of publicly traded non-financial firms in 1998-2003. Consistent with US evidence, estimation results demonstrate that profitability is predominantly determined by business-level factors, not corporate-level ones, suggesting that a typical multi-business corporation in Japan is a combination of relatively distinct businesses in terms of profit.

Suggested Citation

  • Fukui, Yoshitaka & Ushijima, Tatsuo, 2011. "What drives the profitability of Japanese multi-business corporations? A variance components analysis," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 1-11, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jjieco:v:25:y:2011:i:2:p:1-11
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889158311000050
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    2. Stein, Jeremy C, 1997. "Internal Capital Markets and the Competition for Corporate Resources," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 111-133, March.
    3. Anita M. McGahan & Michael E. Porter, 2005. "Comment on ‘Industry, corporate and business‐segment effects and business performance: a non‐parametric approach’ by Ruefli and Wiggins," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(9), pages 873-880, September.
    4. Elhanan Helpman & Marc J. Melitz & Stephen R. Yeaple, 2004. "Export Versus FDI with Heterogeneous Firms," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 94(1), pages 300-316, March.
    5. 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.
    6. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:479-506 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Andrew B. Bernard & J. Bradford Jensen & Stephen J. Redding & Peter K. Schott, 2007. "Firms in International Trade," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 21(3), pages 105-130, Summer.
    8. Schmalensee, Richard, 1985. "Do Markets Differ Much?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(3), pages 341-351, June.
    9. 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.
    10. Hideshi Itoh, 2003. "Corporate Restructuring in Japan Part I: Can M‐Form Organization Manage Diverse Businesses?," The Japanese Economic Review, Japanese Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 49-73, March.
    11. 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.
    12. Panzar, John C & Willig, Robert D, 1981. "Economies of Scope," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 268-272, May.
    13. Richard P. Rumelt, 1991. "How much does industry matter?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 167-185, March.
    14. Karl Lins & Henri Servaes, 1999. "International Evidence on the Value of Corporate Diversification," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 54(6), pages 2215-2239, December.
    15. Fukui, Yoshitaka & Ushijima, Tatsuo, 2007. "Corporate diversification, performance, and restructuring in the largest Japanese manufacturers," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 303-323, September.
    16. Edward H. Bowman & Constance E. Helfat, 2001. "Does corporate strategy matter?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 1-23, January.
    17. Villalonga, Belen, 2004. "Intangible resources, Tobin's q, and sustainability of performance differences," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 205-230, June.
    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. Takata, Hidesuke, 2016. "Effects of industry forces, market orientation, and marketing capabilities on business performance: An empirical analysis of Japanese manufacturers from 2009 to 2011," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 5611-5619.

    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. 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.
    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. 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.
    4. Øystein Gjerde & Kjell Knivsflå & Frode Sættem, 2010. "Evidence on competitive advantage and superior stock market performance," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(4), pages 277-301.
    5. Guangrui Guo, 2017. "Demystifying variance in performance: A longitudinal multilevel perspective," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(6), pages 1327-1342, June.
    6. Yi-Min Chen, 2008. "How Much Does Country Matter?," International Regional Science Review, , vol. 31(4), pages 404-435, October.
    7. 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.
    8. Tarziján, Jorge & Brahm, Francisco & Daiber, Luis Felipe, 2008. "Entrepreneurial profitability and persistence: Chile versus the U.S.A," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 61(6), pages 599-608, June.
    9. Kathryn Rudie Harrigan & Yunzhe Fang, 2020. "The financial benefits of persistently high forward citations," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(2), pages 619-647, April.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Kohls, Tobias & Mager, Ferdinand & Regele, Tobias, 2023. "Competitive advantage and firm, industry, and country effects: An asset pricing perspective," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    13. 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.
    14. 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.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. Zacharias, Nicolas A. & Six, Bjoern & Schiereck, Dirk & Stock, Ruth Maria, 2015. "CEO influences on firms' strategic actions: A comparison of CEO-, firm-, and industry-level effects," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(11), pages 2338-2346.
    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. Markus A. Fitza, 2014. "The use of variance decomposition in the investigation of CEO effects: How large must the CEO effect be to rule out chance?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(12), pages 1839-1852, December.
    20. 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.

    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:eee:jjieco:v:25:y:2011:i:2:p:1-11. 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: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/622903 .

    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.