Title: A model for testing the relationship between company's size and performance: a cross country analysis

Authors: Elisa Giacosa; Alberto Ferraris; Alberto Mazzoleni; Demetris Vrontis

Addresses: Dipartimento di Management, University of Turin, Corso Unione Sovietica, 218 bis, 10134 Torino, Italy ' Dipartimento di Management, University of Turin, Corso Unione Sovietica, 218 bis, 10134 Torino, Italy; Laboratory for International and Regional Economics, Graduate School of Economics and Management, Ural Federal University, Ekaterinburg, Russia ' Department of Economics and Management, University of Brescia, Contrada Santa Chiara 58, 25122 Brescia, Italy ' School of Business, University of Nicosia, P.O. Box 24005, 46 Makedonitissas Avenue, 1703 Nicosia, Cyprus

Abstract: The purpose is to verify whether the company's size (in terms of production value) could be considered as a relevant factor in impacting company performance, taking into consideration the country variable. Italian and German companies have been compared. The country factor (considering its structural and economic characteristics that are different from the company's size) has a primary importance in determining the differences of performance between German and Italian companies. There is a weak relationship between the companies' performance and their size. Size factor is not one of the main factors that explain why the performance of the German companies is better than Italian ones. Global differences are mainly due to the structural and economic characteristics of each country and, in residual form, due to different size of the companies operating in those two countries. The research is characterised by several theoretical and practical implications, especially for top management and investors.

Keywords: Italian companies; German companies; company's size; company's performance; profitability; financial debt repayment.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2018.094435

Global Business and Economics Review, 2018 Vol.20 No.5/6, pp.524 - 543

Received: 08 Mar 2017
Accepted: 22 May 2017
Published online: 03 Sep 2018 *

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