The Structure Performance Hypothesis and The Efficient Structure Performance Hypothesis-Revisited: The Case of Agribusiness Commodity and Food Products Truck Carriers in the South



Summary and Conclusions

This study revisits two conflicting hypothesis: structure performance hypothesis and the
efficient structure hypothesis using financial and operating data obtained from the Transportation
Technical Services, Inc. This study used annual, pooled, and panel data to test the two
hypotheses to determine whether the profits made by firms in the trucking industry were based
on greater economic efficiency or because of collusive activities during the study period.

The results reveal profits made by the carriers were based on them being more efficient
than their competitors rather than them participating in collusive activities. The results also
support the efficient structure hypothesis and reject the structure performance hypothesis.
Therefore, both public and private market evaluators of the trucking industry can use the results
of this analysis to find the basic economic forces that affect the profits of firms in the industry.
Also, managers and owners of the various firms can develop strategies to take advantage of the
weaknesses of their competitors and the strengths of their firms to make profits. Finally, the
results of this study provide users with information that may be used to take advantages of unmet
needs in the trucking industry.

References:

Beilock, Richard and Jose Del Ciello, “Refrigerated Trucking Revisited,” Journal of the
Transportation Research Forum, Volume 43, Number 1, Spring 2004, Pp. 39-53.

Kari, Fatimah, Abdul H. Jaafar, Albert J. Allen, and Warren C. Couvillion, “Market Structure,
Market Share, and Profits in the Surface Freight Industry,” paper presented at the 2002
Annual Meeting of the American Agricultural Economics Association, Long Beach, CA,
July 28-31, 2002.

Lahiri, Kajal and Wenxiong Yao, “ A Dynamic Factor Model of the Coincident Indicators for
the US Transportation Sector,” Applied Economic Letters, 2004, Volume 11, Pp. 595-600.

McMullen, B. Starr, The Impact of Deregulation on Technical Efficiency: The U.S. Motor
Carrier Industry, Final Report, Oregon State University, Department of Economics,
Corvallis, OR, Transportation Northwest (TransNow), Department of Civil Engineering,
University of Washington, Seattle, WA, October 1997.

Molyneux, Phil and William Forbes, “Market Structure and Performance in European



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