Corporate performance volatility: a micro-level perspective

PurposeThis study examines how specific micro-level macroeconomic indicators influence corporate performance volatility among US corporate bodies in the short run.Design/methodology/approachThe study employs error correction autoregressive distributed lagged (ARDL) model (ECM) to examine how micro-level variables influence volatility associated with corporate performance in the short run.FindingsThis paper finds that disaggregated or micro-level variables examined, tend to exhibit features that are not readily apparent from the aggregate variable from which such variables are derived. For instance, reported empirical estimate suggests that, growth in expenditures on services and nondurable goods tend to lower volatility associated with corporate performance, whereas government expenditures and expenditures on durable goods rather worsens volatility associated with corporate performance, all things being equal. Additionally, presented empirical estimates further provide evidence suggesting that macroeconomic uncertainty and inflation uncertainty significantly moderate or influence the extent to which disaggregated variables impact corporate performance volatility.Originality/valueCompared to related studies in the reviewed literature, this study rather examines volatility associated with corporate performance instead of the corporate performance indicator itself. Additionally, this paper also examines how disaggregated variable instead of aggregate variables impact such volatility. Finally, the moderating role of key macroeconomic conditions in such a relationship is also examined.

Throughput prediction based on ExtraTree for stream processing tasks

In the era of big data, as the amount of streaming data continues to increase, stream processing tasks (SPTs) face serious challenges in real-time processing scenarios with low latency and high throughput. However, much of the current literature on the performance of SPTs pays attention to the reactive approach, which cannot well avoid the problem of system crashes due to the inherent performance volatility. In this paper, a novel throughput prediction method based on ExtraTree for SPTs is presented to address these challenges. A volatility detection algorithm was proposed to obtain the reasonable metric values after the performance volatility of SPTs was studied. Moreover, a selection algorithm of regression function was proposed to output the performance values of SPTs under a relative stead state. Furthermore, a ExtraTree-based algorithm was proposed to predict the throughput of SPTs. The experimental results from two open-source benchmarks running on Apache Flink, a popular stream processing system (SPS), indicated that the average of the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method could achieve 90.535% and 0.835 s/10,000 samples, which proved the effectiveness of the proposed method on the task of predicting the throughput of SPTs.

Corporate performance volatility and adverse macroeconomic conditions

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to empirically examine the extent to which volatility associated with corporate performance could be attributed to specific adverse macroeconomic conditions in a bivariate causality analysis.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses the Toda–Yamamoto Wald test approach to Granger causality analysis in verifying significant causal interactions if any, between corporate performance volatility and seven macroeconomic conditions or variables.FindingsThis study finds that economic policy uncertainty and macroeconomic uncertainty tend to have bidirectional causal interaction with corporate performance volatility. In addition, estimated results further suggest significant unidirectional causal interaction between corporate performance volatility and inflation expectations, exchange rate volatility, inflation and inflation uncertainty, with direction of causality running from the macroeconomic variables toward corporate performance volatility. This study, however, found no significant causal interaction between corporate performance volatility and recessionary probability or likelihood of recession.Practical implicationsThis study’s conclusions could have significant and critical policy implications for key corporate policymakers responsible for corporate performance strategy. Various causal interactions identified could inform policy framework and, subsequently, strategies geared toward minimizing volatility associated with performance during episodes of any of the various macroeconomic conditions examined in this study.Originality/valueThe uniqueness of this study stems from its focus on corporate performance volatility instead of corporate performance and potential causal interactions it might have with key adverse macroeconomic conditions, some of which have not been examined in previous studies according to reviewed literature.

Board Ancestral Diversity and Firm-Performance Volatility

We proxy for board members’ opinions and values using directors’ ancestral origins and show that diversity has costs and benefits, leading to high performance volatility. Consistent with the idea that diverse groups experiment more, firms with ancestrally diverse boards have more numerous and more cited patents. In addition, their strategies conform less to those of the industry peers. However, firms with greater ancestral diversity also have more board meetings and make less predictable decisions. These findings suggest that diversity may lead to inefficiencies in the decision-making process and conflicts in the boardroom.

Marketing Spending and Brand Performance Volatility

If company revenues fluctuate, the resulting volatility makes it more difficult to project the company’s future revenues and earnings and ensure steady cash-flow. This lessens investor confidence and, as such, can harm the financial health of a brand. So, effective marketing can have undesired financial side effects. The optimal marketing behaviors derived with and without volatility calculations will be quite different. Analytically savvy companies will be able to gain competitive advantage from this realization.