The Coherence Premium

Master thesis (2012)

Contributors

E. Den Hartigh (mentor)
C.P. Van Beers (mentor)
M.R.B. Reunis (mentor)
K. Cools (mentor)
Programme
Management of Technology (TPM) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2012 Van Braam Houckgeest, A.Q.
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Published Date

14-09-2012

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Programme

Management of Technology

Abstract

Evidence was found for the partial explanation of firm succes from a new point of view: coherence. A positive relationship was found between coherence, a specific form of strategic fit between a core capabilities system, a way to play (strategy) and a product and service portfolio, and premium (above normal financial performance, measured by sales growth, EBIT margin, ROA and P/E ratio). With a sample of 7000 MD&A's from 10-K filings, a coherence score was calculated using textual analysis (counting indicative words). The coherence scores were divided into three equally sized groups. The high coherence score group was found to outperform the low coherence score group for all metrics at a significance level of 0.10. For sales growth the differences were the largest: 9.5% and 12.1% for the low and high coherence groups respectively, with a significance level of 0.01.