Market Performance: Concepts and Measures

Bruce W. Marion and Charles R. Handy

No 307487, Agricultural Economic Reports from United States Department of Agriculture, Economic Research Service

Abstract: The need exists for new criteria to reflect the qualitative as well as quantitative aspects of market performance. Also emphasized in the report is the multidimensional nature of performance. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Marketing Science Institute jointly sponsored a project to evaluate current market performance concepts and measures and develop new or improved ones. At this point, industrial organization theory provides the only analytical framework of market performance that is well developed and empirically tested. The structure of markets and their performance have been found to be related—but not in a linear fashion. Vertical market relationships need further analysis to expand on the few existing insights into market performance. Empirical and theoretical work have focused mainly on horizontal relationships. This report brings together several recent efforts to expand conceptual models of vertical market systems. Two new measures are presented: The value of retail exchange services and an Index of Consumer Satisfaction. These attempt to overcome the lack of attention given by existing measures to the level and distribution of consumer satisfaction with goods and services. Given the numerous and changing dimensions of market performance, and the narrow focus of most performance measures, a multidimensional information system on market performance needs to be set up. Such a system could provide greater continuity among the uses of existing performance measures, assimilate the findings of individual studies, and act as a catalyst for further examination of the factors influencing market performance.

Keywords: Industrial Organization; Marketing; Productivity Analysis; Research Methods/Statistical Methods (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 138
Date: 1973-09
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:uerser:307487

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.307487

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