TY  - JOUR
AU  - Kremp,Elizabeth
AU  - Mairesse,Jacques
TI  - Dispersion and Heterogeneity of Firm Performances in Nine French Service Industries, 1984-1987
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 3665
PY  - 1991
Y2  - March 1991
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3665
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w3665.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Elisabeth Kremp
Banque de France
43-2510 -- DGS - DESS
37 rue du Louvre
75049 - Paris cedex 01
France
Tel: +(33) 1 42 92 52 02
E-Mail: Elisabeth.kremp@banque-france.fr

Jacques Mairesse
CREST (ParisTech-ENSAE)
15, Boulevard Gabriel PERI
92245 MALAKOFF CEDEX
FRANCE
Tel: 33-1-41-17-35-50
Fax: 33-1-41-17-76-34
E-Mail: mairesse@ensae.fr
M1  - published as Elizabeth Kremp, Jacques Mairesse. "Dispersion and Heterogeneity of Firm Performances in Nine French Service Industries, 1984-1987," in Zvi Griliches, editor, "Output Measurement in the Service Sectors" University of Chicago Press (1992)

AB  - In the present study, we have taken advantage of the wealth of information provided by the French annual survey of market services to construct a panel sample of data on about 2300 large firms, from 1984 to 1987, in nine selected service industries (at the four digit level of the industrial classification) . We have contrasted the average performances of firms across industries, in terms of labor productivity ratios and profitability margins, both in levels and in growth rates. We have compared these averages indicators for more or less inclusive sample definitions, going from the survey of all firms to a 'balanced' and "cleaned' panel data sample of large firms, and for the two kinds of averages usually considered in macro and micro-analyses. We, then proceeded to show that the differences across industries in average productivity and profitability are usually small when compared to the range of individual differences within industries, and have investigated to what extent the extreme variability in individual performances could be accounted for by other heterogeneity factors, besides the industry effects.
ER  -