Productivity, profitability and financial performance

This work presents a comparative analysis of two crucial dimensions of firms performance: profitability and productivity. The characteristics of their empirical distribution and the associated degree of persistence over time are explored through a set of parametric and non-parametric exercises performed on an exhaustive panel of Italian firms, active in both manufacturing and services, during the period 1998-2003. The main strength of our analysis resides in the use of a credit rating index which allows us to document not obvious interactions which are in place among economic performances, financial conditions and access to external credit. We also investigate how profitability and productivity relates with a third important dimension of performance, that is growth. We find that, independently from the particular sector of activity and from financial conditions, there seems to be weak market pressure and little behavioral inclination for the more efficient and more profitable firms to grow faster.