Is it as low as 10%? The Coca-Cola Company manages to have larger "selling,
administrative, and general expenses" than their "cost of goods sold". P&G
are somewhat more reassuring; they seem to hold "marketing, research, and
administrative" to around half of "cost of products sold". Kellog falls
somewhere in between. I find it difficult to believe these companies go
through enough staplers and sticky pads for G&A to be much of these figures;
somebody please tell me if they aren't a reasonable proxy for advertising vs.
stuff ratios.
According to the BEA's NIPA tables[1], food ranks just behind housing and
medical care in personal expenditures. Housing is expensive enough that
advertising/transaction fees are probably nominal, but medical care might
prove to be another low-stuff area.
Any FoRKs with suggestions for methodology, or pointers to previous studies?
I'm curious as to what the stuff ratio may be for the personal expenditure
accounts.
-Dave
[1] <http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/dn/nipatbls/NIP2-2.HTM>