Working capital management, firm performance and nature of business

Author(s):  
Kumar Sanjay Sawarni ◽  
Sivasankaran Narayanasamy ◽  
Kanagaraj Ayyalusamy

PurposeThis paper aims to investigate the impact of the efficiency of working capital management (WCM) on the performance of a sample of Indian companies and explore how the nature of the firm's business influences the significance and direction of this impact.Design/methodology/approachThe data for this study were collected for the period of 2012–2018 for 414 non-financial firms listed on the Bombay Stock exchange. Fixed-effect regression models were run by taking Tobin's Q and return on equity (ROE) as dependent variables, and net trade cycle (NTC) and its components as explanatory variables in the presence of liquidity, leverage, size, age and growth as control variables. Sample firms were segregated into manufacturing, trading and service groups, and regression models were used for all the groups to understand the effect of the nature of a firm's business.FindingsWCM efficiency has a significant impact on the performance of the sample firms. Non-financial Indian firms deliver better financial performance by maintaining lower NTC. Like NTC, its components also impact firm value and profitability. The results report that the significance of the relationship varies depending upon the nature of the firm's business.Originality/valueThe previous research studies had not used a sample of large number of Indian firms. Unlike previous studies, this study reports the influence of the nature of business on the relationship between WCM and firm performance. Further, this paper also examines how the individual components of working capital influence the performance of Indian firms.

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 206-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nufazil Altaf ◽  
Farooq Shah

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between working capital management and firm performance for a sample of 437 non-financial Indian companies. In addition, this paper examines the impact of financial constraints on working capital management-performance relationship. Design/methodology/approach This study is based on secondary financial data of 437 non-financial Indian companies obtained from CAPITALINE database, pertaining to a period of ten years. This study employs the two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) technique to arrive at results. Findings Results of the study confirm the inverted U-shape relationship between working capital management and firm performance. In addition, the authors also found that the firms that are likely to be more financially constrained have lower optimal working levels. Originality/value Unlike prior studies, which found a linear relationship between working capital management and firm performance, this study provides newer evidence for an inverted U-shaped relation between investment in working capital and firm performance in India. In addition, this study also tests the impact of financial constraints on this relationship. In contrast to the prior studies, this study uses GMM to control the potential problems of endogeneity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ben Le

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of working capital management on firm valuation, profitability and risk.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses a panel data set of 497 firms covering the period 2007 to 2016. The authors test the effects of working capital management on firm valuation, profitability and risk using the panel data methodology that includes firm and year fixed effects regressions.FindingsThe authors find a significantly negative relationship between net working capital (NWC) and firm valuation, profitability and risk. The results suggest that, in managing working capital, firm managers must make a trade-off between their objectives for profitability and risk control. Working-capital management is of particular importance in firms with less access to capital; it is also important when firms are expanding their investments during periods of economic recovery.Originality/valueThis paper contributes to the literature in several ways. First, to my knowledge, it provides the most comprehensive investigation, to date, on the relationship between working capital management and firm valuation, profitability and risk in an emerging market. Second, this study documents the existence of an optimal level of NWC in an emerging market. Third, firm performance, as measured in both market and accounting value, can be improved with efficient working capital management. Finally, the study includes the impact of the business cycle in an analysis of the effects of working capital management on firm performance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahdi Salehi ◽  
Nadia Mahdavi ◽  
Saeed Zarif Agahi Dari ◽  
Hossein Tarighi

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between access to financial resources, working capital with surplus stock returns and value of the company in Iran. Design/methodology/approach The study population consists of 728 observations and 91 firms listed on the Tehran stock exchange during an eight-year period between 2009 and 2016. The statistical model used in this study is a multivariate regression model; further, the statistical technique used to test the hypotheses is panel data. Findings The results saw a negative and significant linkage between changes in cash and stock’ excess returns, whereas no meaningful association between changes in working capital and stock surplus returns was seen. In other words, an Iranian rial (Iran’s currency) invested in working capital worth less on average than a rial held in cash. Furthermore, the authors realized that in an inflationary economy, firms mainly pay more dividends so as to illustrate better their financial position and also to attract more investors’ trust. The results also indicated that the final value of working capital in the companies that are faced with financial constraints is more than companies that are not faced with financial constraints. Subsequently, after the elimination of the effects of inflation on stock returns, it was found there is not any significant association between the stock’s real return and firm value. Practical implications This is one of the most comprehensive research works in Iran that simultaneously surveys the impacts of access to finance and working capital on firm value. This research warns corporate managers to pay more attention to the importance of keeping cash to finance and manage working capital for profitability and sustainability of their company’s operations. Surely, by understanding the relationship between cash holdings, working capital management and stock surplus return, investors will be able to make appropriate decisions about the optimal choice of funds. Originality/value What really will fascinate other scholars about this paper is the time period of the study because there were unprecedented sanctions against Iran market and many manufacturing industries were in financial strain. Without hesitation, the paper will make aware investors and stakeholders of this fact that cash holdings will be a good way in reducing the corporate financial problems in emerging markets, particularly those markets face financial sanctions like Iran.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Naeem Shahid ◽  
Aamir Abbas ◽  
Khalid Latif ◽  
Ayesha Attique ◽  
Safwan Khalid

PurposeThis study aims to identify the impact of corporate governance on performance of sugar mills. In order to study this relation, a model is constructed in which ownership structure and independent directors are taken as independent variables. Whereas firm performance is analyzed by using proxy variables such as return on asset (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and sales growth. Moreover, size of board, working capital management (WCM) and philanthropy are taken as mediating variables between governance variables and firm performance.Design/methodology/approachThe data of 32 sugar mills listed at Pakistan Stock Exchange for the period of four years (i.e. 2014–2017) is used for this research. Moreover, to investigate the model, generalized least squares statistical method is used to measure the relationship between variables.FindingsThe results revealed that there is significant but positive relationship between independent directors and ROA while ownership structure and ROE have significant but negative relationship. Thus, the board of directors should make it sure that all stakeholders and organizations should increase the nonfamily ownership in firms for better corporate performance. Moreover, philanthropy and WCM mediate the relationship between corporate governance and firms' performance.Practical/implicationsThis research work will be helpful in the corporate governance, and further researchers can conduct their study by considering executive/nonexecutive director and institutional owners as governance variables.Originality/valueThis paper fulfills an identified need to study how Corporate Governance effect the performance of firm.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-115
Author(s):  
Wasantha Perera ◽  
Pradeep Priyashantha

The Working Capital Management (WCM) has an important role for the firm’s success or failure, because it directly affects the overall business health of the firm. This study examined the impact of WCM on profitability and shareholders’ wealth using 50 companies listed in different sectors on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) for the period from 2010 to 2015. This sample represents 47% of the selected sectors of CSE. The profitability of the company is measured using gross operating profit (GOP) and shareholders wealth measured by Tobin’s Q (TQ) ratio. The WCM is measured using five independent variables namely stock holding period (SHP), debtors’ collection period (DCP), creditors’ settlement period (CSP), cash conversion circle (CCC) and current assets ratio (CAR). Further, three additional variables such as firm size (SIZE), leverage (LEV) and earning yield (EY) are employed as controlling variables to capture the impact of other performance of the companies.The data were analyzed using ordinary least square (OLS) and panel data regression models. These regression models reveal that there is a significant negative relationship between CCC and dependent variables (GOP & TQ). Further, this relationship has been confirmed by the major components of CCC such as SHP, DCP. Firm size also positively and significantly effects on the firm GOP while negatively effects on the TQ. Further, they revealed that there is a significant positive relationship between LEV and TQ. The study finds that the shareholders’ wealth and profitability can be increased through the efficiency of WCM.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 68
Author(s):  
Adrianus Dhimas Setyanto ◽  
Ika Permatasari

AbstractThis study aims to determine the effect of working capital management on firm value. Corporate governance is used as a moderating variable in this study to explore the role of corporate governance in the relationship between working capital management with corporate values. Program participants of Corporate Governance Perception Index (CGPI) are used as a sample during the period from 2003 to 2011 and listed on the Indonesian Stock Exchange (IDX). We were using simple linear regression and the testing of moderating effects were calculated by Moderated Regression Analysis (MRA). The results showed that the working capital management has an influence on the value of the firm. However, corporate governance variables failed to moderate the relationship between working capital management and enterprise value. It shows that companies and investors in the market still lack concern for the program response and Corporate Governance Perception Index (CGPI) as an assessment of the application of the principles of corporate governance that has been done by the company .Keywords: Working Capital Management, Cash Conversion Cycle, Corporate Governance, Firm Values


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zanxin Wang ◽  
Minhas Akbar ◽  
Ahsan Akbar

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of working capital management (WCM) and working capital strategy (WCS) on firm’s financial performance across different stages of the corporate life cycle (CLC). We use Pakistani non-financial listed firms nested in 12 diverse industries over a period of 2005–2014 as the research sample and employ the hierarchical linear mixed (HLM) estimator, which can process multilevel data where observations are not completely independent. The empirical findings reveal that, overall, WCM is negatively associated with firm performance. However, this association is not static across different stages of a firm’s life cycle. For example, a negative association is more pronounced at the introduction stage followed by growth and decline stages, whereas WCM does not significantly impact the performance of mature firms. Likewise, WCS also causes varying effects on the financial performance across the CLC. A conservative strategy at the introduction, growth, and decline stages negatively affects firm performance, suggesting that these firms should adopt an aggressive strategy. Nevertheless, management of sample firms did not account for the respective life cycle stage while formulating a WCM strategy, which can seriously compromise their financial sustainability. These findings suggest that firms require customized WCM policies and WCS to attain sustainable financial performance at each stage of firm life cycle. Thus, managers should not overlook the significant role of CLC stages in their financial planning to ensure the sustainable functioning of the enterprise.


2018 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 3244-3248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanaffie Yusoff ◽  
Kamilah Ahmad ◽  
Ong Yi Qing ◽  
Shafie Mohamed Zabri

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica Singhania ◽  
Piyush Mehta

Purpose Excessive working capital or paucity of the same can impair the profits and health of an organization. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of working capital management (WCM) on the profitability of firms for a sample comprising of non-financial companies in countries of South East Asia, South Asia and East Asia. Design/methodology/approach Analytical modeling has been used to estimate the impact of WCM on profitability with the help of financial data of the companies listed in major indices of the target countries (India, Pakistan, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Japan, China, South Korea and Taiwan). The mathematical model presented in the paper has been tested using two-step-generalized method of moments. Findings The study reveals a non-linear relationship between profitability of a firm and WCM for 11 economies of the Asia Pacific region. Research limitations/implications The results are subject to the differences in the market dynamics of different economies (countries). Moreover, the limitations of the specific statistical method used to verify the model apply to the model too. Practical implications The research can be used as a tool by the firms (global as well as local) to ameliorate their performance by understanding the effects of WCM on profitability in different global markets and adjusting their working capital accordingly. Originality/value The research on the impact of WCM on profitability of the firms of South East Asia, South Asia and East Asia is a new effort and tries to make the importance of WCM more luciferous.


Author(s):  
Walter Gachira ◽  
Washington Chiwanzwa ◽  
Dingilizwe Jacob Nkomo ◽  
Runesu Chikore

Working capital is essential for the day-to-day operations of a firm. The study examines the impact of working capital management on the profitability of non-financial firms listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE). Using panel data methodology, the direction and extent of the impact of working capital management on profitability is scrutinised. The regression analysis is based on a panel sample of 39 non-financial firms listed on the ZSE from 2009 to 2013, the period under which the Zimbabwean economy has been operating under the multicurrency system. It was found that there is a positive relationship between debtors’ days and firm’s profitability, a negative relationship between creditors’ days and profitability and a positive relationship between firm’s cash conversion cycle and its profitability. There is some negative relationship between current ratio and profitability, while inventory turnover days and profitability are positively related. Debt to asset ratio as a control variable has a significant negative relationship with firm value and profitability. The results of the study show that for the companies included in the sample, there are mixed effects of the components of working capital on firm performance. Managers can thus create value for shareholders by taking note of the existence of such relationships and take measures that enhance firm profitability.


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