Customer-Base Concentration, Investment, and Profitability: The U.S. Government as a Major Customer
研究发现，与大政府客户合作的客户集中度提高企业盈利能力，而与大企业客户合作的则降低盈利能力，原因在于政府客户降低需求不确定性，使客户特定投资更高效。
ABSTRACT We examine whether customer-base concentration has a differential impact on profitability for firms contracting with major government customers versus firms contracting with major corporate customers. We document that firm profitability increases with the concentration of major government customers, but decreases with the concentration of major corporate customers. We attribute the contrasting results to the differential impact of major government and corporate customers on demand uncertainty. Specifically, firms contracting with major government customers face lower demand uncertainty that enables them to realize more efficiency gains from customer-specific investments, whereas firms contracting with major corporate customers are exposed to higher demand uncertainty that reduces the efficiency of customer-specific investments. Overall, our study suggests that major government customers are unique and important in the composition of customer base, and they impact firm outcomes in a significantly different way than major corporate customers. JEL Classifications: M41; L25; G14; H57.