League Table

Definition

Standings or rankings are listings which compare sports teams or individuals, institutions, nations, companies, or other entities by ranking them in order of ability or achievement. A table or chart may be employed to display such listings. A league table may list several related statistics, but they are generally sorted by the primary one that determines the rankings. Many industries and institutions may compete in league tables in order to help bring in new customers and clients. Those tables ranking sports teams are generally used to help determine who may advance to the playoffs or another tournament, who ispromoted or relegated, or who gets a higher draft pick.


League Table

What is ‘League Table’

A ranking of companies based on a set of criteria such as revenue, earnings, deals or any other relevant metrics. The rankings are organized into lists, which can be used for investment research purposes or as promotional material for the companies on the list.

Below is an example of a league table comparing the revenue and % revenue share of four different banks.

Explaining ‘League Table’

Some of the most well-known league tables are those that track the dealings of investment banks, such a tables that tally the ongoing deals done by various banks.

For example, a league table put out by a financial information provider may show all of the merger and acquisition deals that each bank has managed during a yearly period, illustrating the date in terms of the combined dollar value of the deals as well as the share of the merger and acquisition deal market for the period.

Further Reading

  • Benchmarking in universities: league tables revisited – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • Why does the USA dominate university league tables? – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • The relationship between A-level subject choice and league table score of university attended: the 'facilitating', the 'less suitable', and the counter-intuitive – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • Stochastic league tables: communicating cost‐effectiveness results to decision‐makers – onlinelibrary.wiley.com [PDF]
  • League-table incentives and price bubbles in experimental asset markets – papers.ssrn.com [PDF]
  • The reporting of university league table employability rankings: a critical review – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • The complete university guide–a new concept for league table practices in the United Kingdom – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • Viewpoints: An Economist's View of University League Tables – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]