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Decomposing Firm Performance in Emerging Markets: The Difference Between Growth and Profit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2024

Nan Zhou*
Affiliation:
Advanced Institute of Business, School of Economics and Management, Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Seung Ho Park
Affiliation:
Division of Strategy, International Business and Entrepreneurship, Nanyang Center for Emerging Markets, Nanyang Business School, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
*
Corresponding author: Nan Zhou (zhounan38@hotmail.com)

Abstract

This study adopts the resource-based view (RBV) to explain the difference in firm profit and growth determinants. We argue that profit is driven more by valuable, rare, inimitable, and non-substitutable (VRIN) resources, and growth is driven more by versatile resources. Since some versatile resources, such as cash, are less firm-specific, the firm effect is more critical in determining profit than growth. We also expect that emerging market firms are more capable of utilizing versatile resources than developed market firms, and developed market firms are more capable of utilizing VRIN resources than emerging market firms. As a result, the determinants of firm performance also differ between emerging and developed markets. The study employs multilevel mixed models to decompose firm performance in US, Chinese, and global samples. The findings confirm that the firm effect is more important in influencing profit than growth, persisting across all three samples. The firm effect is also more important in influencing performance in developed countries than in emerging markets.

摘要

摘要

本研究采用资源基础观(RBV)来解释企业利润和增长决定因素的差异。我们认为,利润更多地由有价值的、稀有的、不可模仿的和不可替代的(VRIN)资源驱动,而增长更多地由多功能通用资源驱动。由于一些多功能通用资源,如现金,并不是企业所特有的,因此企业效应在决定利润方面比决定增长方面更为关键。我们还预计,新兴市场国家企业比发达国家企业更有能力利用多功能通用资源,而发达国家企业比新兴市场国家企业更能利用VRIN资源。因此,新兴市场国家和发达国家企业业绩的决定因素也有所不同。本研究运用多级混合模型来分解美国、中国和全球样本的企业绩效。研究结果证实,企业效应在影响利润方面比影响增长方面更为重要,这一结论在三个不同样本中都存在。企业效应对新兴市场国家企业业绩的影响,比对发达国家企业业绩的影响更为重要。

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of International Association for Chinese Management Research

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