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Performance Factors of Czech Companies Identified Using Statistical Pattern Recognition: Interpretation of Results
Appendix A 1. Results
In the further text, m denotes mean of the dependent variable and p denotes p-value. To remind to the reader, dependent variable is measured as return on assets and growth of assets between 2004-2010 (up to two missing values accepted), standardised into z-scores and summed up. Therefore, the higher m, the better performance of a company or a subsample.
Because the standardisation was carried out for each year individually, the mean corporate financial performance of the full sample is not zero, but it is m = 0.267 (standard deviation 0.976).
Descriptive statistics of the sample can be found in the following two tables. Second column shows frequencies, which are more important for categorical variables. Fourth to eight columns give appropriate values of corporate financial performance in subsets defined by these categorical variables. This is quite important when assessing first- and second-order relationships with CFP in further text. Zero-order relationships to CFP are analysed in the main text of the paper.
Table 4: Descriptive statistics: CFP in subsets defined by categorical independent variables
Variable N
Mean Median Std.
deviation Min. Max.
Valid Missing
Cost Leadership 81 5 0.10 0.17 0.92 -2.37 2.93
Differentiation 103 5 0.14 0.09 0.97 -2.99 2.71
Cost Focus 66 2 0.26 0.22 0.85 -1.95 1.90
Differentiation Focus 103 7 0.46 0.36 1.04 -3.01 3.62
Focus Yes 169 9 0.38 0.31 0.97 -3.01 3.62
Focus No 184 10 0.13 0.12 0.95 -2.99 2.93
Cost strategies 147 7 0.17 0.17 0.89 -2.37 2.93
Differentiation strategies 206 12 0.30 0.15 1.02 -3.01 3.62
FDI No 254 13 0.31 0.17 0.97 -2.37 3.62
FDI Yes 96 6 0.21 0.17 0.93 -3.01 2.07
Export No 89 5 0.45 0.34 1.00 -2.34 3.54
Export Yes 290 15 0.18 0.09 0.98 -3.01 3.62
Source: Author’s calculations.
The next table gives descriptive statistics of scale variables. Zero-order relationships to CFP are analysed in the main text of the paper.
Table 5: Descriptive statistics: dependent and independent scale variables
Variable N
Mean Median Std.
dev. Min. Max.
Valid Miss.
Corporate financial performance 411 21 0.27 0.16 0.98 -3.01 3.62 Share of Top Management
Performance Pay on total remuneration
368 64 34.39 33.30 20.02 0.00 100.00
2/12 Share of Workers’ Performance
Pay on total remuneration 368 64 26.73 23.55 17.87 0.00 100.00 Source: Author’s calculations.
Finally, before we proceed to the analyses of higher-order relationships, following table gives associations among the independent variables. Given their mostly categorical nature, Cramer´s V was chosen as the association coefficient. Share of Top Management Performance Pay on Total Remuneration and Share of Workers’ Performance Pay on Total Remuneration were recoded into below average and above average categories for this purpose. The only exception is correlation between these two variables, which was computed as Spearman´s rho using the original values. The associations (correlations) found are generally weak, if any at all.
Table 6: Zero-order relationships among the independent variables
St ra te gy (G en er ic ) St ra te gy (F oc us Y es /N o) St ra te gy (Cos t vs . D iff. ) FD I (Y es /N o) E xpor t (Y es /N o) T op M an age m ent Pe rform an ce P ay W ork er s’ Pe rform an ce P ay
Strategy (Generic)
Cramer´s V 1.00
Sig. (2-tailed)
N 372
Strategy (Focus Yes/No)
Cramer´s V 1.00 1.00
Sig. (2-tailed)
N 372 372
Strategy (Cost vs. Diff.)
Cramer´s V 1.00 1.00 1.00
Sig. (2-tailed)
N 372 372 372
FDI (Yes/No)
Cramer´s V 0.16
**0.11
*0.05 1.00
Sig. (2-tailed) .048 .055 .355
N 315 315 315 369
Export (Yes/No)
Cramer´s V 0.19
***0.16
***0.06 0.18
***1.00
Sig. (2-tailed) .005 .002 .269 .001
N 346 346 346 342 399
Top Management Performance Pay (below average/above average)
Cramer´s V 0.08 0.05 0.06 0.14
**0.06 1.00 Sig. (2-tailed) .532 .365 .289 .015 .297
N 320 320 320 313 345 368
Workers’ Performance Pay (below average/above average)
Cramer´s V 0.05 0.05 0.01 0.11
*0.16
***0.23
***a1.00 Sig. (2-tailed) .854 .409 .930 .059 .003 .000
N 318 318 318 316 345 357 368
Source: Author’s calculations.
a
Spearman´s correlation coefficient between the original values of these variables (before recoding into below average/above average.
*