scholarly journals Firm performance: the moderation impact of debt and dividend policies on overinvestment

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nghia Nguyen Trong ◽  
Cong Thanh Nguyen

PurposeDebt, dividend and investment policy constitutes a company's important financial decisions to determine firm performance. The research emphasizes on the problem of overinvestment, a phenomenon that worsens firm operation. Furthermore, it clarifies the moderation role of debt and dividend policy in mitigating the negative effect of overinvestment on firm performance in the case of Vietnamese listed companies.Design/methodology/approachThe research uses all financial statement of non-financial Vietnamese listed companies on Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi Stock Exchange in the period of 2008–2018. The data are collected from Thomson Reuters Eikon. The final data set is comprised of 669 listed companies. The study measures overinvestment though investment demand function and HP filter. Moreover, the research employs the dynamic model, so it has to apply the SGMM method to deal with the problem of endogeneity caused by the lagged dependent variable.FindingsThe research finds that overinvestment is negatively associated with firm performance. Debt or dividend policy separately can moderate the negative effect of overinvestment on firm performance. However, when these two policies are combined, they lessen the positive interaction impact of each policy due to the substitution between debt and dividend policy.Research limitations/implicationsThe research may have two limitations. Firstly, the research measures overinvestment indirectly through investment demand function and HP filter. These two measures only help identify the sign that companies may have the problem of overinvestment because we cannot determine whether they overinvest or not in reality. Secondly, when using interaction variables, the problem of multicollinearity may be higher, and this may adjust the signs and significance level of variables in the models.Practical implicationsPractically, the research proposes three policy recommendations. Firstly, a company can exploit debt or dividend policy to limit excessive free cash flow in order to constrain the problem of overinvestment. Secondly, a company should enhance its corporate governance to resolve agency problems. Thirdly, the government should make the financial sector more transparent and effective to improve monitoring functions of various parties in the capital market.Social implicationsOverinvestment sometimes can cause social issues. Overinvestment means that companies make ineffective investment. If they continue this situation over a long time, companies may have financial distress or even go bankruptcy. As a result, it will slow down economic growth and increase unemployment in the economy.Originality/valueThe research is supposed to make two great contributions to the existing empirical studies in two aspects. Firstly, it is the first attempt to take into consideration the interaction between overinvestment and financial policies. Secondly, it helps enhance the fundamental stance of the agency theory, which supports the interdependence of debt, dividend and investment policy.

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Lazăr

AbstractThe paper investigates firm-specific determinants of firm profitability for Romanian listed companies over the 2000-2011 period within the framework of resource based view of the firm. The results show that tangibles, leverage, size and labour intensity have negative effect on firm performance, while sales growth and value added have a positive effect. The results prove robust when introducing two-way fixed effects model and industry year effects model (in order to simultaneously account for specific industry characteristics and time effects).


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (02) ◽  
pp. 2072-2180
Author(s):  
Dai Long Khuc ◽  
Thi Thu Bui ◽  
Quynh Mai Ha

The study was conducted to investigate the relationship between diversification on Board and firm performance. The investigation has been performed using panel data procedure for a sample of 204 Vietnamese listed companies in two different groups: Large cap and Mid cap, listed in HOSE and HNX during the period of five years from 2015 to 2019. The study uses three performance measures (including return on equity, return on asset, Tobin’s Q) as dependent variable. The independent variables for measurement of diversification on Board are the number of females and the diversification for Supervisory Board are the number of females only. Other independent variables are average age of Board member, CEO duality and the number of independent directors. The results indicated that firm performance have positive relationship with nationality diversity on Board and gender diversity on Supervisory Board. CEO duality shows a significant result of negative effect on firm performance.


2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-478 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rohail Hassan ◽  
Maran Marimuthu

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the demographic diversity at top-level management and its impact on the performance of Malaysian-listed companies. In addition, Muslim diversity on corporate boards is examined. Design/methodology/approachAlthough many organisations aspire to be socially diverse, diversity’s consequences for organisational performance remain unclear. This study specifies the whole distinct mechanism and measures it independently, bridging as the demographic diversity among the board of directors (BODs) and bonding as the firm’s financial performance. To maintain the homogeneity factor, the empirical analysis has been confined to 12 fully fledged sectors and 529 Malaysian listed firms out of 798 firms selected on the basis of judgmental sampling during the period of 2013. The paper applies the correlation matrix and linear regression model to justify this phenomenon. FindingsThe empirical findings suggest that gender diversity (Muslim and Non-Muslim women) is positively significant with firm performance with regards to management, shareholders and market perspectives. It means that both Muslim and non-Muslim women are contributing to firm performance. Ethnic diversity (minority) and Muslim diversity (majority) have no impact on firm performance. On the other hand, interaction variables are positively significant with firm performance. It means that majority and minorities are essential for corporate boards to produce a greater performance. Research limitations/implicationsFuture research could include more variables such as director’s age profile and foreign participation as well as other types of diversities, such as cognitive diversity and corporate diversity. In addition, another possible extension could be the investigation of diversity issues between small scale and large or high and low-profit firms. The findings provide insightful information to firms, as this study suggests that the diverse corporate boards can enhance firm performance. Originality/valueIn recent years, diversity issues have been examined with regard to firm performance of the listed companies. Whilst extensive literature exists on diversity issues, this issue is still under debate and has had inconsistent results. The paper attempts to fill the gap in the existing literature, discuss the empirically diverse corporate boards with the interaction approach and impact on the firm performance.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Suparak Janjarasjit ◽  
Siew H. Chan

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine whether users’ perceived moral affect explains the effect of perceived intensity of emotional distress on responsibility judgment of a perpetrator and company, respectively, in an ill and good intention breach. Design/methodology/approach Participants completed a questionnaire containing items measuring their perceived intensity of emotional distress, perceived moral affect and responsibility judgment of a perpetrator and company, respectively. Findings The results support the mediating hypothesis on responsibility judgment of a perpetrator regardless of intention. The mediating hypothesis is also supported in an ill intention breach in responsibility judgment of a company. However, the mediating effect is not observed in a good intention breach when users assess a company’s responsibility. Originality/value The findings support the notion that users use the consequentialism approach when assessing a perpetrator’s responsibility because they focus on the victims’ emotional distress and discount a perpetrator’s intent, resulting in similar mediating effect of perceived moral affect in an ill and good intention breach. The results also indicate that perceived moral affect increases the negative effect of perceived intensity of emotional distress on responsibility judgment of a company, suggesting that users may exhibit empathetic feelings toward a company and perceive it as a victim of an ill intention breach. The lack of mediating effect in responsibility judgment of a company in a good intention breach may be attributed to the diminished effect of a perpetrator’s feelings of regret, sorrow, guilt and shame for causing emotional distress to the victims.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rui Wang ◽  
Liqiong Liu ◽  
Yu Feng

PurposeThe mechanism of marketing strategy style and its impact on firms are research issues received wide attention. In particular, the aggressive style of marketing strategy has been chosen by many companies, but recent studies have shown that it has a negative effect on corporate performance. This leads to the core issue of this paper – does the aggressive style of marketing strategy always had a negative impact on corporate performance? Are there any factors that can alleviate this negative impact?Design/methodology/approachBased on the resource-based theory and agency theory, this paper takes the Growth Enterprise Market (GEM) listed companies as the research objects, collects secondary data and conducts the research by regression model.FindingsThe empirical research shows that: (1) the aggressive style of marketing strategy significantly and negatively affects the performance of firm; (2) the resource constraint can moderate the main effect and resource control play a weak adjustment role.Practical implicationsIn practice, this paper confirms the adverse impact of aggressive style of marketing strategy on the performance of listed companies on GEM and inspires the industry to strengthen the control and supervision of marketing resources.Originality/valueThis paper makes up for the research gap in the field of cross-research in finance and marketing theoretically.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 508-551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Merendino ◽  
Rob Melville

PurposeThis study aims to reconcile some of the conflicting results in prior studies of the board structure–firm performance relationship and to evaluate the effectiveness and applicability of agency theory in the specific context of Italian corporate governance practice.Design/methodology/approachThis research applies a dynamic generalised method of moments on a sample of Italian listed companies over the period 2003-2015. Proxies for corporate governance mechanisms are the board size, the level of board independence, ownership structure, shareholder agreements and CEO–chairman leadership.FindingsWhile directors elected by minority shareholders are not able to impact performance, independent directors do have a non-linear effect on performance. Board size has a positive effect on firm performance for lower levels of board size. Ownership structure per se and shareholder agreements do not affect firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper contributes to the literature on agency theory by reconciling some of the conflicting results inherent in the board structure–performance relationship. Firm performance is not necessarily improved by having a high number of independent directors on the board. Ownership structure and composition do not affect firm performance; therefore, greater monitoring provided by concentrated ownership does not necessarily lead to stronger firm performance.Practical implicationsThis paper suggests that Italian corporate governance law should improve the rules and effectiveness of minority directors by analysing whether they are able to impede the main shareholders to expropriate private benefits on the expenses of the minority. The legislator should not impose any restrictive regulations with regard to CEO duality, as the influence of CEO duality on performance may vary with respect to the unique characteristics of each company.Originality/valueThe results enrich the understanding of the applicability of agency theory in listed companies, especially in Italy. Additionally, this paper provides a comprehensive synthesis of research evidence of agency theory studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 299-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanyu Chen ◽  
Wenzhe Zheng ◽  
Yimiao Huang

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use difference-in-difference method (DID) to study the influences of independent directors’ political connection on firm value. Design/methodology/approach File No. 18 by the Organization Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee requires that the leading cadres in party and government offices are not allowed to act as independent directors; this restriction applies to retired officials as well. As a result, many listed companies lose the political connections of officers as independent directors. This paper takes it as an exogenous shock to evaluate the influence of the political connection of independent directors on firm value, effectively alleviating the endogeneity problem existing in previous studies. Findings The research finds the following: under the policy of compelled resignation, the loss of political connection of independent directors has a prominent negative impact on firm value; and compared to state-owned enterprises, the firm value of private enterprises receives a greater negative impact. However, the political advantage of state-owned enterprises is not obviously influenced. In the regions with worse external market environments, due to a greater reliance on resources brought about by political connection, the policy has a much greater influence on their listed companies. Research limitations/implications The study faces several limitations, each of which represents a potential research direction. First, our analysis is based on the policy effects on the firm’s current Tobin’s Q and finds a negative effect of losing political connections. However, the long-term effects are still unclear, as some studies find a negative effect of political connections. Second, the paper focuses on one channel in which political connections may affect firm value. Other channels, such as subsidies and loans from state-owned banks, which need more granular data, should be explored in the future. Practical implications The use of DID model can better objectively evaluate the implementation effects of ban policies and alleviate endogenous problems, which is also enlightening for further perfection of the system of independent directors in the A-share market. Social implications It enriches existing researches of the value of independent directors from the perspective of political connection, which is conducive to understanding the influence and channel on the firm value after the loss of political connection and the value of independent directors in the corporate governance in a more comprehensive and accurate manner. Originality/value This paper extends the relevant research on the value of the political connection of independent directors from the perspective of political connection and enlightens the evaluation of the effect of ban policies.


2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 62-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Li Liu ◽  
Wen Qu ◽  
Janto Haman

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the association between firm performance and product market competition (PMC), and then examine the mitigation effect of corporate governance and/or state-ownership (SOEs) in the association between PMC and firm performance using Chinese listed firms. Design/methodology/approach The authors consider three determinants of the PMC that affect the nature of competition, and use market concentration, product substitutability and market size as proxies for PMC. The authors construct a corporate governance index which measures the extent of board independence, monitoring strength of supervisory board over board of directors, and monitoring strength of board of directors over CEO. The authors use Tobin’s Q as a proxy for firm performance. The authors use a sample of 20,706 firm-year observations listed on the Chinese stock market between 2001 and 2016 to empirically investigate the research questions proposed in the paper. Findings The authors find that higher PMC is associated with lower firm performance. The authors find that good corporate governance practices moderate the negative effect of higher PMC on firm performance. The association between higher PMC and lower performance is weaker for firms controlled by SOEs compared to non-SOEs. Further, the moderation effect of SOEs on the association between higher PMC and lower performance is more pronounced for firms with good corporate governance practices compared to firms with weak corporate governance practices. Originality/value Extant studies investigating the relationship between PMC and corporate governance suggest an either complementary or substitution relationship in developed economies. Our study highlights the interactive role played by SOEs and good corporate governance practices in firm performance in highly competitive product markets in an emerging economy. The findings provide insightful information to regulators of other emerging countries that SOEs with good corporate governance practices can play an important role in the economy by mitigating the negative effect of higher PMC on firm performance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 896-912 ◽  
Author(s):  
Padmanabha Ramachandra Bhatt ◽  
R. Rathish Bhatt

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of Malaysian Code on Corporate Governance (MCCG, 2007 and 2012) on the performance of the listed companies in Malaysia. The agency theory and resource dependency theories indicate that the firms with strong corporate governance outperform firms with weaker governance. This paper explores this relationship in a developing country like Malaysia having different institutional environment compared to western countries. Design/methodology/approach The study used a sample of 113 listed companies in Malaysia. The study incorporates the endogenous relationship between corporate governance, firm performance and leverage. Findings The study analyzes how the corporate governance framework affected firm performance in Malaysia with the help of self-developed corporate governance index (MCGI). The authors’ findings show that the performance of the firm is positively and significantly related with corporate governance measured by MCGI. Secondly, corporate governance of sample firms shows marked improvements after implementation of MCCG 2012 as compared to MCCG 2007. Originality/value The findings of this paper support the agency and the resource dependency theories. The study contributes to the understanding of the relationship between the corporate governance and firm performance in emerging economy and builds a case for enforcement of strong corporate governance code by government agencies.


2014 ◽  
Vol 52 (10) ◽  
pp. 1858-1887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao Duan ◽  
Zhan-ming Jin

Purpose – Strategic group has been intensively studied since this term emerged in 1970s, but previous studies have been limited to the comparisons between groups such as performance comparison. The purpose of this paper is to explore the internal structure of strategic groups by examining the effect of strategic distance from a firm to the center of its strategic group on firm performance. Design/methodology/approach – The research is based on data acquired from the annual reports of listed companies and some Chinese domestic databases, including CSMAR Solution, WIND financial database, and China Core Newspapers Full-text Database. After grouping listed pharmaceutical companies in China over the period 2010-2011, the authors test three hypotheses by using fixed effect regressions. Findings – The paper finds that the strategic distance from a firm to the center of its strategic group has a significant negative effect on the firm's financial performance. Two factors are discovered to influence that effect: corporate diversification strengthens the negative effect of strategic distance on performance, while firm's media visibility weakens that negative effect. Originality/value – The findings reveal the relationship between intra-group strategic positioning and firm performance, and specify how firms can gain competitive advantage through positioning choices and strategic actions. This study promotes the establishment of a more comprehensive strategic group theory by revealing the structure within strategic groups.


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