A research for the competitive environment hypothesis in the short-run for the Turkish manufacturing industry

Abstract

The competitive environment hypothesis is one of the basic ideas in mainstream economic theory. It states that the competitive process eliminates all economic profits and losses in the long-run so profits do not persist. This article studies the competitive environment hypothesis of 125 Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) quoted manufacturing firms that survived during the period of 2009:1-2010:4, which can be considered as the short-run. Net income after tax to total assets (return on assets [ROA]) and net income after tax to total equity (return on equity [ROE]) are both used as profit measures. Starting with Levin et al. and Im et al.'s panel unit root tests, pooled Ordinary Least Squares (OLS), panel fixed effects and cross-sectional analysis are employed. The results indicate that competitive environment hypothesis is viable and profits do not persist in the short-run.