What drove profitability in the 1980s and early 1990s? Management consultants, business, academics, investment analysts and the business press all of the proposed heads of a number of theories. However, managers do not have access to much more data on aggregate trends and broad impact on the profitability of the business over time. With the new reporting requirements in place in the United States around 1980, the problem has been partially solved. This article uses the new data for the classification of the U.S. companies in the past two decades. The paper begins with a group of businesses based on the trajectory in their accounting profitability. It contains an average size, growth, financial markets, bonuses and branch companies in each group. Finally, this article describes the broad strategic issues that arise for a subset of companies in each group. As a result, a number of proposals for changes in the strategic issues faced by enterprises in the economy. "Hide
by Anita M. McGahan Source: California Management Review 29 pages. Publication Date: April 1, 1999. Prod. #: CMR149-PDF-ENG