위계선형모형에 의한 식품제조기업의 성과에 대한 요인 분석

The Determinants of Firm Performance Differences in Korean Food Manufacturing Using Hierarchical Linear Model

Strategic management research has demonstrated the importance of firm and industry structure as drivers of firm profitability. However, less is known about how firm and industry factors affect firm profitability in Korean food manufacturing. We use a panel data of financial statements for Korean food processing firms and decompose the variance in these firms return-on-assets into year, firm and industry effects using a hierarchical linear model. The results show that firm effects are far more important than industry structure in explaining firm performance difference in the food processing industry. In addition, we also examine the effect of specific strategic factors on firm performances. In particular, we find that firm size, firm growth, resource availability and market share are drivers of profitability while firm risks and age as well as advertising intensity have a negative influence. Although firm effects outweigh industry and time effects, the results indicate that industry growth also has a positive influence on firm performances. These strategic factors being effectively utilized, business managers will be able to focus their resources and attention on the core factors rather than the peripheral factors. In addition, the findings provide insights for the government policy makers to prepare effective support policies that can enhance the competitiveness of Korean food manufacturing.