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Dynamics of Investment and Firm Performance: Comparative Evidence from Manufacturing Industries

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  • Marco Grazzi
  • Nadia Jacoby
  • Tania Treibich

Abstract

Although the relation between investment and economic growth has been well established in the macroeconomic literature, the existence of a similar link at firm level has been challenged by empirical work. This paper investigates the channels linking investment and firm performance in the French and Italian manufacturing industries by proposing a novel methodology to identify investment spikes, which corrects for size dependence. While maintaining the desired properties of a spike measure, our chosen proxy accounts for the expected relation between investment and firm performance. Ex-ante, more efficient and fast growing firms demonstrate a higher probability to invest; in turn, following an investment spike, the group of investing firms shows further performance gains. We show also that expansionary investment episodes, proxied by the opening of new plants, have a negative effect on profitability but are associated with higher sales and higher levels of employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Marco Grazzi & Nadia Jacoby & Tania Treibich, 2013. "Dynamics of Investment and Firm Performance: Comparative Evidence from Manufacturing Industries," GREDEG Working Papers 2013-09, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    • Handle: RePEc:gre:wpaper:2013-09
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Michał Gradzewicz, 2021. "What Happens After an Investment Spike—Investment Events and Firm Performance," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 636-651, July.
    2. Riccardo Leoncini & Alberto Marzucchi & Sandro Montresor & Francesco Rentocchini & Ugo Rizzo, 2019. "‘Better late than never’: the interplay between green technology and age for firm growth," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(4), pages 891-904, April.
    3. Schulte, Reinhard, 2018. "New venture investing trajectories: A large scale longitudinal study," Lüneburger Beiträge zur Gründungsforschung 13, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Department of Entrepreneurship & Start-up Management.
    4. Fabio Pieri, 2015. "Vertical organization of production and firm growth behavior," Working Papers 1508, Department of Applied Economics II, Universidad de Valencia.
    5. Fabio Pieri, 2018. "Vertical organization of production and firm growth," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 27(1), pages 83-106.
    6. Grazzi, Marco & Sanzo, Roberto & Secchi, Angelo & Zeli, Alessandro, 2013. "The building process of a new integrated system of business micro-data 1989–2004," Journal of Economic and Social Measurement, IOS Press, issue 4, pages 291-324.
    7. Vanja Grozdić & Branislav Marić & Mladen Radišić & Jarmila Šebestová & Marcin Lis, 2020. "Capital Investments and Manufacturing Firms’ Performance: Panel-Data Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-18, February.
    8. Domini, Giacomo & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele & Treibich, Tania, 2021. "Threats and opportunities in the digital era: Automation spikes and employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(7).
    9. Schulte, Reinhard, 2015. "On real investment by new ventures," Lüneburger Beiträge zur Gründungsforschung 12, Leuphana University of Lüneburg, Department of Entrepreneurship & Start-up Management.
    10. Stucki, Tobias, 2019. "Which firms benefit from investments in green energy technologies? – The effect of energy costs," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(3), pages 546-555.
    11. Lucía Garcés-Galdeano & Martín Larraza-Kintana & Carmen García-Olaverri & Marianna Makri, 2016. "Entrepreneurial orientation in family firms: the moderating role of technological intensity and performance," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 27-45, March.
    12. Dosi, Giovanni & Grazzi, Marco & Moschella, Daniele, 2015. "Technology and costs in international competitiveness: From countries and sectors to firms," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1795-1814.
    13. Riccardo Leoncini & Alberto Marzucchi & Sandro Montresor & Francesco Rentocchini & Ugo Rizzo, 2016. "‘Better late than never’: a longitudinal quantile regression approach to the interplay between green technology and age for firm growth," SEEDS Working Papers 0616, SEEDS, Sustainability Environmental Economics and Dynamics Studies, revised May 2016.
    14. Xiaodan Yu & Giovanni Dosi & Marco Grazzi & Jiasu Lei, 2015. "Inside the Virtuous Cycle between Productivity, Profitability, Investment and Corporate Growth: An Anatomy of China Industrialization," LEM Papers Series 2015/03, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm heterogeneity; investment spike; industrial dynamics; corporate performance; capital accumulation; technical change;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D92 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Intertemporal Firm Choice, Investment, Capacity, and Financing
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L23 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Organization of Production
    • L60 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Manufacturing - - - General

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