THE AGE AND THE PERFORMANCE OF POLISH ROAD TRANSPORTATION COMPANIES

Abstract

In this paper we study the relationships between the age of the road
transportation companies registered in Poland in a period between 2013 and 2017 and
their performance. The sample for this study is obtained from Emerging Markets
Information Service and comprise 8,723 observations relating to 2,367 road
transportation companies. We chose the growth of sales and the profitability ratios,
namely return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) as proxies for the
performance of studied companies. We employ in our research Kendall tau-b and
Spearman rho coefficients. The obtained empirical results indicate a negative and
statistically significant relationships between the age of studied companies and their
growth of sales and the profitability. For business practitioners it means that younger
road transportation companies outperform their older peers, in terms of both: the
growth of sales and the profitability. Very low p-values confirm our results are robust.
The paper ends with managerial implication and advantages following from the
applied analysis, limitations of the study and indications for further research.
Key words: age, performance, growth, profitability, road transportation