IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/epolin/v44y2017i3d10.1007_s40812-016-0066-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

How do governance factors affect inefficiency? Stochastic frontier analysis of public utility firms in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Fumitoshi Mizutani

    (Kobe University)

  • Eri Nakamura

    (Kobe University
    Vienna University of Economics and Business)

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to investigate how governance factors affect technical inefficiency in public utility firms. Inefficiency analysis in public utilities so far has focused mainly on industry-level treatments such as competition policy and regulations. However, since these industry-level treatments incur significant government costs and are difficult to monitor closely, management-level corporate governance, which has been widely discussed in private firms, has been attracting increased attention in recent years. In our analysis, we examine the effects of various shareholders as governance actors on technical inefficiency in public utilities. By using a panel data of 369 Japanese firms in seven public utilities from 1989 to 2015, we estimate the stochastic frontier production function. The main findings are as follows: (1) some governance factors clearly reduce inefficiency; as ownership by domestic companies and individual shareholders increases, the technical inefficiency of a public utility firm decreases. (2) However, we cannot determine the effects of foreign shareholders and financial institutions. These actors can have different effects depending on the situation. (3) Industry-level factors such as regulation and competition are shown to increase inefficiency. This indicates that conventional industry-level involvement is no longer effective in public utilities and that in the efficiency analysis more attention must be paid to the managerial improvement of public utilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Fumitoshi Mizutani & Eri Nakamura, 2017. "How do governance factors affect inefficiency? Stochastic frontier analysis of public utility firms in Japan," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 44(3), pages 267-289, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:epolin:v:44:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s40812-016-0066-1
    DOI: 10.1007/s40812-016-0066-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s40812-016-0066-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s40812-016-0066-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    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. Berger, Allen N. & Hasan, Iftekhar & Zhou, Mingming, 2009. "Bank ownership and efficiency in China: What will happen in the world's largest nation?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 113-130, January.
    2. Pantalone, Coleen C. & Platt, Marjorie B., 1997. "Thrift cost inefficiencies: Did deregulation help?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 39-57.
    3. Elisabetta Ottoz & Marina Di Giacomo, 2012. "Diversification strategies and scope economies: evidence from a sample of Italian regional bus transport providers," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(22), pages 2867-2880, August.
    4. Berglof, Erik & Perotti, Enrico, 1994. "The governance structure of the Japanese financial keiretsu," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 259-284, October.
    5. Ferrier, Gary D. & Grosskopf, Shawna & Hayes, Kathy J. & Yaisawarng, Suthathip, 1993. "Economies of diversification in the banking industry : A frontier approach," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 229-249, April.
    6. Gutierrez, Luis Hernando, 2003. "The Effect of Endogenous Regulation on Telecommunications Expansion and Efficiency in Latin America," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 257-286, May.
    7. Ebru Alpay & Joe Kerkvliet & Steven Buccola, 2002. "Productivity Growth and Environmental Regulation in Mexican and U.S. Food Manufacturing," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 84(4), pages 887-901.
    8. Berman, Eli & Bui, Linda T. M., 2001. "Environmental regulation and labor demand: evidence from the South Coast Air Basin," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(2), pages 265-295, February.
    9. Sari, Nazmi, 2003. "Efficiency outcomes of market concentration and managed care," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(10), pages 1571-1589, December.
    10. Eli Berman & Linda T. M. Bui, 2001. "Environmental Regulation And Productivity: Evidence From Oil Refineries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 498-510, August.
    11. Nongluk Buranabunyut & James Peoples, 2012. "An empirical analysis of incentive regulation and the allocation of inputs in the US telecommunications industry," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 181-200, April.
    12. Raghuram Rajan & Henri Servaes & Luigi Zingales, 2000. "The Cost of Diversity: The Diversification Discount and Inefficient Investment," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(1), pages 35-80, February.
    13. Caudill, Steven B. & Ford, Jon M., 1993. "Biases in frontier estimation due to heteroscedasticity," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 41(1), pages 17-20.
    14. Ai, Chunrong & Sappington, David E M, 2002. "The Impact of State Incentive Regulation on the U.S. Telecommunications Industry," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 133-159, September.
    15. Antel, John J & Ohsfeldt, Robert L & Becker, Edmund R, 1995. "State Regulation and Hospital Costs," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 77(3), pages 416-422, August.
    16. Sanford Berg & Chen Lin & Valeriy Tsaplin, 2005. "Regulation of State-Owned and Privatized Utilities: Ukraine Electricity Distribution Company Performance," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 259-287, November.
    17. Vivian Jeng & Gene C. Lai, 2005. "Ownership Structure, Agency Costs, Specialization, and Efficiency: Analysis of Keiretsu and Independent Insurers in the Japanese Nonlife Insurance Industry," Journal of Risk & Insurance, The American Risk and Insurance Association, vol. 72(1), pages 105-158, March.
    18. Allen N. Berger & Timothy H. Hannan, 1998. "The Efficiency Cost Of Market Power In The Banking Industry: A Test Of The "Quiet Life" And Related Hypotheses," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(3), pages 454-465, August.
    19. Berger, Allen N. & Clarke, George R.G. & Cull, Robert & Klapper, Leora & Udell, Gregory F., 2005. "Corporate governance and bank performance: A joint analysis of the static, selection, and dynamic effects of domestic, foreign, and state ownership," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(8-9), pages 2179-2221, August.
    20. Berger, Allen N. & Dai, Qinglei & Ongena, Steven & Smith, David C., 2003. "To what extent will the banking industry be globalized? A study of bank nationality and reach in 20 European nations," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 383-415, March.
    21. Antonio Alvarez & Christine Amsler & Luis Orea & Peter Schmidt, 2006. "Interpreting and Testing the Scaling Property in Models where Inefficiency Depends on Firm Characteristics," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 201-212, June.
    22. Hadri, Kaddour, 1999. "Estimation of a Doubly Heteroscedastic Stochastic Frontier Cost Function," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 17(3), pages 359-363, July.
    23. Fenn, Paul & Vencappa, Dev & Diacon, Stephen & Klumpes, Paul & O'Brien, Chris, 2008. "Market structure and the efficiency of European insurance companies: A stochastic frontier analysis," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 86-100, January.
    24. Gray, Wayne B, 1987. "The Cost of Regulation: OSHA, EPA and the Productivity Slowdown," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 77(5), pages 998-1006, December.
    25. Reifschneider, David & Stevenson, Rodney, 1991. "Systematic Departures from the Frontier: A Framework for the Analysis of Firm Inefficiency," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 32(3), pages 715-723, August.
    26. John Schneider, 2003. "Changes in the Effects of Mandatory Rate Regulation On Growth in Hospital Operating Costs, 1980–1996," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 22(4), pages 297-312, June.
    27. Kumbhakar, Subal C & Ghosh, Soumendra & McGuckin, J Thomas, 1991. "A Generalized Production Frontier Approach for Estimating Determinants of Inefficiency in U.S. Dairy Farms," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 9(3), pages 279-286, July.
    28. Anna Ter-Martirosyan & John Kwoka, 2010. "Incentive regulation, service quality, and standards in U.S. electricity distribution," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 38(3), pages 258-273, December.
    29. Nowell, Clifford & Shogren, Jason F, 1994. "Challenging the Enforcement of Environmental Regulation," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 6(3), pages 265-282, September.
    30. Gollop, Frank M & Roberts, Mark J, 1983. "Environmental Regulations and Productivity Growth: The Case of Fossil-Fueled Electric Power Generation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(4), pages 654-674, August.
    31. Fumitoshi Mizutani & Hideo Kozumi & Noriaki Matsushima, 2009. "Does yardstick regulation really work? Empirical evidence from Japan’s rail industry," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 36(3), pages 308-323, December.
    32. Giuseppe Nicoletti & Stefano Scarpetta, 2003. "Regulation, productivity and growth: OECD evidence [‘A model of growth through creative destruction’]," Economic Policy, CEPR, CESifo, Sciences Po;CES;MSH, vol. 18(36), pages 9-72.
    33. Caudill, Steven B & Ford, Jon M & Gropper, Daniel M, 1995. "Frontier Estimation and Firm-Specific Inefficiency Measures in the Presence of Heteroscedasticity," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(1), pages 105-111, January.
    34. Berg, Sanford V & Jeong, Jinook, 1991. "An Evaluation of Incentive Regulation for Electric Utilities," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 3(1), pages 45-55, March.
    35. Kira R. Fabrizio & Nancy L. Rose & Catherine D. Wolfram, 2007. "Do Markets Reduce Costs? Assessing the Impact of Regulatory Restructuring on US Electric Generation Efficiency," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(4), pages 1250-1277, September.
    36. Charles Dufour & Paul Lanoie & Michel Patry, 1998. "Regulation and Productivity," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 9(3), pages 233-247, March.
    37. Buch, Claudia M, 2003. "Information or Regulation: What Drives the International Activities of Commercial Banks?," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 35(6), pages 851-869, December.
    38. Meyer, Robert A & Leland, Hayne E, 1980. "The Effectiveness of Price Regulation," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 62(4), pages 555-566, November.
    39. Vogelsang, Ingo, 2002. "Incentive Regulation and Competition in Public Utility Markets: A 20-Year Perspective," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 5-27, July.
    40. Hung-jen Wang & Peter Schmidt, 2002. "One-Step and Two-Step Estimation of the Effects of Exogenous Variables on Technical Efficiency Levels," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 129-144, September.
    41. Bos, Dieter & Peters, Wolfgang, 1995. "Double inefficiency in optimally organized firms," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 355-375, March.
    42. Mizutani, Fumitoshi & Uranishi, Shuji, 2003. "The Post Office vs. Parcel Delivery Companies: Competition Effects on Costs and Productivity," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 299-319, May.
    43. Nelson, Randy A & Wohar, Mark E, 1983. "Regulation, Scale Economies, and Productivity in Steam-Electric Generation," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 24(1), pages 57-79, February.
    44. Cabral, Luis M B & Riordan, Michael H, 1989. "Incentives for Cost Reduction under Price Cap Regulation," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 1(2), pages 93-102, June.
    45. Valentin Zelenyuk & Vitaliy Zheka, 2006. "Corporate Governance and Firm’s Efficiency: The Case of a Transitional Country, Ukraine," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 143-157, April.
    46. Christainsen, Gregory B & Haveman, Robert H, 1981. "Public Regulations and the Slowdown in Productivity Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 71(2), pages 320-325, May.
    47. Davide Vannoni, 2000. "Diversification, the Resource View and Productivity: Evidence from Italian Manufacturing Firms," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 27(1), pages 47-63, March.
    48. Christopher R. Knittel, 2002. "Alternative Regulatory Methods And Firm Efficiency: Stochastic Frontier Evidence From The U.S. Electricity Industry," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 84(3), pages 530-540, August.
    49. Andrew N. Kleit & Dek Terrell, 2001. "Measuring Potential Efficiency Gains From Deregulation Of Electricity Generation: A Bayesian Approach," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 523-530, August.
    50. Fries, Steven & Taci, Anita, 2005. "Cost efficiency of banks in transition: Evidence from 289 banks in 15 post-communist countries," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 55-81, January.
    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. Eri Nakamura & Fumitoshi Mizutani, 2019. "Necessary demand and extra demand of public utility product: identification using the stochastic frontier model," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 46(1), pages 45-64, March.

    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. Fumitoshi Mizutani & Eri Nakamura, 2016. "Factors Affecting Inefficiency Level: Stochastic Frontier Analysis of Public Utility Firms in Japan," Discussion Papers 2016-02, Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration.
    2. Fumitoshi Mizutani & Eri Nakamura, 2013. "Regulation, Competition, Diversification, Governance and Costs: An Empirical Analysis of Public Utility and Manufacturing Firms in Japan," Discussion Papers 2013-25, Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration.
    3. Fumitoshi Mizutani & Eri Nakamura, 2014. "What Most Affects A Firm' s Costs: Internal or External Factors, or Both?," Discussion Papers 2014-22, Kobe University, Graduate School of Business Administration.
    4. Ajayi, Victor & Weyman-Jones, Tom, 2021. "State-level electricity generation efficiency: Do restructuring and regulatory institutions matter in the US?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    5. Ajayi, V. & Weyman-Jones, T., 2021. "State-Level Electricity Generation Efficiency: Do Restructuring and Regulatory Institutions Matter in the US?," Cambridge Working Papers in Economics 2166, Faculty of Economics, University of Cambridge.
    6. Subal C. Kumbhakar & Christopher F. Parmeter & Valentin Zelenyuk, 2022. "Stochastic Frontier Analysis: Foundations and Advances I," Springer Books, in: Subhash C. Ray & Robert G. Chambers & Subal C. Kumbhakar (ed.), Handbook of Production Economics, chapter 8, pages 331-370, Springer.
    7. Antti Saastamoinen, 2015. "Heteroscedasticity Or Production Risk? A Synthetic View," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(3), pages 459-478, July.
    8. Jorge Galán & Helena Veiga & Michael Wiper, 2014. "Bayesian estimation of inefficiency heterogeneity in stochastic frontier models," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 42(1), pages 85-101, August.
    9. repec:cte:wsrepe:ws121007 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Jacob A. Bikker & Barbara Casu & Claudia Girardone & Mohamed E Chaffai & Michel Dietsch & Antonio Colangelo & Robert Inklaar & Marco Colagiovanni & Martin Czurda & Roger Hartmann & Charles-Henri Di Ma, 2009. "Productivity in the Financial Services Sector," SUERF Studies, SUERF - The European Money and Finance Forum, number 2009/4 edited by Morten Balling & Ernest Gnan & Frank Lierman & Jean-Pierre Schoder, May.
    11. Liu, Yanyan, 2006. "Model Selection in Stochastic Frontier Analysis: Maize Production in Kenya," 2006 Annual meeting, July 23-26, Long Beach, CA 21281, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    12. Christopher F. Parmeter & Hung-Jen Wang & Subal C. Kumbhakar, 2017. "Nonparametric estimation of the determinants of inefficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 47(3), pages 205-221, June.
    13. Llorca, Manuel & Orea, Luis & Pollitt, Michael G., 2016. "Efficiency and environmental factors in the US electricity transmission industry," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 234-246.
    14. Dietrich Earnhart & Dylan G. Rassier, 2016. "“Effective regulatory stringency” and firms’ profitability: the effects of effluent limits and government monitoring," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 111-145, October.
    15. Paul, Satya & Shankar, Sriram, 2018. "Modelling Efficiency Effects in a True Fixed Effects Stochastic Frontier," MPRA Paper 87437, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Satya Paul & Sriram Shankar, 2020. "Estimating efficiency effects in a panel data stochastic frontier model," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 163-180, April.
    17. Jiang, Chunxia & Yao, Shujie & Zhang, Zongyi, 2009. "The effects of governance changes on bank efficiency in China: A stochastic distance function approach," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 717-731, December.
    18. Alshammari, Ahmad Alrazni & Syed Jaafar Alhabshi, Syed Musa bin & Saiti, Buerhan, 2019. "The impact of competition on cost efficiency of insurance and takaful sectors: Evidence from GCC markets based on the Stochastic Frontier Analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 410-427.
    19. Anabel Zárate-Marco & Jaime Vallés-Giménez, 2015. "Environmental tax and productivity in a decentralized context: new findings on the Porter hypothesis," European Journal of Law and Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 313-339, October.
    20. Albrizio, Silvia & Kozluk, Tomasz & Zipperer, Vera, 2017. "Environmental policies and productivity growth: Evidence across industries and firms," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 209-226.
    21. Christine Amsler & Peter Schmidt & Wen-Jen Tsay, 2015. "A post-truncation parameterization of truncated normal technical inefficiency," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 209-220, October.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Stochastic frontier analysis; Corporate governance; Diversification strategy; Regulation; Competition; Public utility firms;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M11 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - Production Management
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:spr:epolin:v:44:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s40812-016-0066-1. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.