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Inter-industry differences in profitability: the legacy of the structure-efficiency debate revisited

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  • Chang-Yang Lee
  • Ishtiaq P. Mahmood

Abstract

This study presents a simple model on the sources of inter-industry variation in profitability and tests its empirical implications in order to shed new light on the long-lasting debate over industry profitability. The model identifies four key factors that jointly influence an industry's price-cost margin: (i) the intensity of strategic investment (e.g. R&D and advertising), (ii) the skewness of the distribution of market share or market concentration, (iii) the appropriability of strategic investment, and (iv) the extent to which firms' market shares are determined by the intensity of their strategic investment. These factors are expected to be positively related to industry profitability, and our empirical analysis provides supportive evidence. The model also suggests that the conventional, single-dimensional hypotheses on profitability-the market-power (or market-structure) hypothesis and the efficiency hypothesis-are overly simplified. More importantly, existing empirical results allegedly supporting each of these hypotheses are spurious to the extent that the distribution of firm-specific strategic competence reflects firm heterogeneity in efficiency and, at the same time, underlies the distribution of market share or market concentration. Copyright 2009 , Oxford University Press.

Suggested Citation

  • Chang-Yang Lee & Ishtiaq P. Mahmood, 2009. "Inter-industry differences in profitability: the legacy of the structure-efficiency debate revisited," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 18(3), pages 351-380, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:indcch:v:18:y:2009:i:3:p:351-380
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/icc/dtp009
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea Vaona, 2010. "On the gravitation and convergence of industry profit rates in Denmark, Finland, Italy and the US," Working Papers 02/2010, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    2. Radovan Kastratoviæ & Dragan Lonèar & Siniša Miloševiæ, 2019. "Market concentration and profitability: the empirical evidence from Serbian manufacturing industry," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 37(1), pages 213-233.
    3. Andrea Vaona, 2010. "On the gravitation and convergence of industry incremental rates of return in OECD countries," Working Papers 03/2010, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    4. Močnik Dijana & Širec Karin, 2015. "Determinants Of A Fast-Growing Firm’s Profits: Empirical Evidence For Slovenia," Scientific Annals of Economics and Business, Sciendo, vol. 62(1), pages 37-54, April.

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