Labour productivity is often discussed in economic literature, yet productivity studies in wholesaling are rare. On the whole, wholesaling is a neglected area of research in contrast with its important position in the distribution channel. Our analysis of labour productivity in wholesaling makes use of a labour-cost relationship — originally developed for retailing — to study differences in labour productivity across wholesale business types. For this purpose, averaged data are used of 61 German wholesale types for the 7-year period, 1979 through 1985. The labour-output relationship is estimated applying a pooled, an error-component and a variable-intercept model. Also, heteroskedasticity is considered.

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doi.org/10.1016/0167-8116(90)90029-M, hdl.handle.net/1765/9592
ERIM Top-Core Articles
International Journal of Research in Marketing
Erasmus Research Institute of Management

van Dalen, J., Koerts, J., & Thurik, R. (1990). The measurement of labour productivity in wholesaling. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 21–34. doi:10.1016/0167-8116(90)90029-M