An Empirical Test of Value-Based Planning Models and Implications

The value of the firm is clearly the central purpose of most entrepreneurial activities. Considering the scope, nature and impact of Strategic Management decisions, one would expect firm value to be an integral concern of this area. Yet seldom do we observe value being explicitly managed or systematically linked to the strategies and direction of the firm.

Recent economic pressures are escalating the need to achieve a more complete and concrete portrayal of this relationship. In this search, a small number of frameworks have sprung up from traditional finance models to describe the value creation/destruction process from the strategic management perspective.

Though these models have generated strong interest and have provided useful insights, they have not been subjected to large-scale empirical evaluation. This research examined two frameworks and assessed the degree of empirical support for their implications.

Based on 4,000 observations in 40 industries over a ten-year period, the current effort provided only partial support for the models and their implications. This paper supported the qualitative contributions of these models to better decision-making processes. Their statistical explanatory power, however, was not demonstrated.