Mean reverting leverage policy in China: theory and evidence from industrial and sectorial level unit root analysis

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-306 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ajid ur Rehman
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Unit Root ◽  
Unit Root Test ◽  
Target Level ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Chinese Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Leverage Ratio ◽  
Stationary Behavior

Purpose This study aims to apply unit root test to investigate the behavior of Chinese firms toward their leverage policy. The study is based on two influential and competing theories of capital structure. Design/methodology/approach This study applies unit root test to investigate the behavior of Chinese firms toward their leverage policy. The study is based on two influential and competing theories of capital structure. Trade off theory advocates that firms have a target level of leverage ratio and that firms try to achieve that optimal leverage ratio, whereas pecking order theory argues that firms have no target level of leverage and that they follow a specific pattern of leverage. For this purpose, this study applies a Fisher type unit root test to 12,808 firm level observations. The data are unbalanced and cover a period from 1991 to 2014. Findings The results reveal the presence of a stationary behavior across short-term, long-term and total leverage policies. For short-term leverage policy, 21 per cent firms show stationary behavior, while for long-term, 20 per cent show a targeting behavior; for the total leverage policy 17 per cent of firms are found to follow a tradeoff model. To make the findings more interesting sample was further classified into profit and loss making firms. The study finds that loss making firms do not follow a target level of leverage in China. Furthermore, unit root is applied to all firms before and after crises-2008. It is revealed that stationary behavior is more prevalent before crises-2008. Originality/value This study is highly important from the point of view that it quantifies firms into distinct categories of following specific model of capital structure. To the best of the author’s knowledge, the findings of this study add to current research knowledge about Chinese firms with respect to adjustment behavior toward a target capital structure.

Corporate social responsibility and debt financing of listed firms: a quantile regression approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kofi Mintah Oware ◽  
T. Mallikarjunappa
Keyword(s):  
Quantile Regression ◽  
Debt Financing ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Leverage Ratio ◽  
Listed Firms ◽  
Conditional Mean ◽  
Natural Logarithm ◽  
Corporate Social

Purpose The purpose of the study is to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on debt financing (natural logarithm of debt and leverage ratios) of listed firms. Design/methodology/approach Using content analysis for data extraction, the study examines listed firms on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from 2010 to 2019 financial year. It uses a quantile regression and panel fixed effect regression as the model's application. Findings The study shows that CSR expenditure has a positive and strong correlation with debt financing (i.e. natural logarithm of long-term and short-term debts). The first findings show that CSR expenditure has a negative and statistically significant association with total leverage ratio, using conditional mean and median percentile. However, there is a positive and statistically significant association between CSR expenditure and long-term leverage ratio at the 25th and 50th percentile. The second findings show that CSR expenditure has a positive and statistically significant association with long-term debt but an insignificant association with short-term debt and total debt under a conditional mean average. The application of quantile regression addresses the values that fall outside the confidence interval and therefore document a positive and statistically significant association between CSR expenditure and debt financing (short-term debt, long-term debt and total debt) at the 25th, 50th and 75th percentile. Originality/value The introduction of quantile regression gives a novelty in CSR and debt financing study, which to the best of the authors’ knowledge, has not received any attention. Similarly, firms have better information on how to position their CSR expenditure to attract providers of debt financing.

How do Spanish unlisted family firms rebalance their capital structures?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zélia Serrasqueiro ◽  
Fernanda Matias ◽  
Julio Diéguez-Soto
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Family Firms ◽  
Adjustment Costs ◽  
Dynamic Panel Data ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Speed Of Adjustment

PurposeThis paper seeks to analyze the family firm's capital structure decisions, focusing on the speed of adjustment (SOA) as well as on the effect of distance from the target capital structure on the SOA towards target short-term and long-term debt ratios in unlisted small and medium-sized family firms.Design/methodology/approachMethodologically, we use dynamic panel data estimators to estimate the effects of distance on the speeds of adjustment towards those targets. Data for the period 2006–2014 were collected for two research sub-samples: one sub-sample with 398 family firms; the other sub-sample contains 217 non-family firms.FindingsThe results show that the deviation from the target debt ratios impacts negatively on the speeds of adjustment towards target short-term and long-term debt ratios in unlisted family firms. These results suggest that family firms, deviating from target debt ratios, face deviation costs, i.e. insolvency costs, inferior to the adjustment costs, i.e. transaction costs. Therefore, family firms stay away from the target debt ratios for a long time than do non-family firms.Research limitations/implicationsThe research sample comprises a low number of family firms, therefore for future research we suggest increasing the size of the sample of family firms to get a deeper understanding of family firms' SOA towards capital structure. Additionally, we suggest the analysis of other potential determinants of the speed of adjustment towards target capital structure.Practical implicationsThe results obtained suggest that the distance from the target short-term and long-term debt ratios can be avoided if these firms do not depend almost exclusively on internal finance to adjust towards target capital structure. Moreover, for policymakers, we suggest the creation/promotion of alternative external finance sources, allowing reduced transaction costs that contribute to a faster adjustment of small family firms towards target capital structure.Originality/valueThe most previous research focusing on capital structure decisions have focused on listed family firms. To fill this gap, this study examines the speed of adjustment towards target debt ratios in the context of unlisted family firms. Moreover, transaction costs are a function of debt maturity, therefore this study examines separately the speeds of adjustment towards target short-term and long-term debt ratios. This paper shows that the adjustment costs (i.e. transaction costs) could hold back family firms from rebalancing its capital structure.

Factors affecting financial leveraging for BSE listed real estate development companies in India

2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-294
Author(s):  
Rakesh Kumar Sharma
Keyword(s):  
Real Estate ◽  
Capital Structure ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Tax Shield ◽  
Total Debt ◽  
Real Estate Sector

PurposeThe real estate sector in India has assumed growing importance with the liberalisation of the economy. Developments in the real estate sector are being influenced by the developments in the retail, hospitality and entertainment (e.g. hotels, resorts and cinema theatres) segment, economic services (e.g. hospitals, schools) and information technology-enabled services (such as call centres), and vice versa. This paper aims to study the determinants of capital structure by taking into account 125 major Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) listed real estate companies selected on the basis of their market capitalisation.Design/methodology/approachTo discover what determines capital structure, nine firm level explanatory variables (profitability-EBIT margin, return on assets, earnings volatility, non-debt tax shield, tangibility, size, growth, age debt service ratio and tax shield) were selected and regressed against the appropriate capital structure measures, namely, total debt to total assets, long-term debts to total assets, short-term debts to total assets, total liabilities to total liabilities plus equity, total debt to capital used and total debt to total liabilities plus equity. A sample of 125 real estate companies was taken and secondary data were collected. Consequently, multivariate regression analysis was made based on financial statement data of the selected companies over the study period of 2009-2015.FindingsThe major findings of the study indicated that profitability, size, age, debt service capacity growth and tax shield variables are the significant firm-level determinants.Research limitations/implicationsThe present study is carried out by taking data of only 25 companies listed on the BSE and time period covered from 2009 from 2015. Time period and sample size may be limitations of the current study.Practical implicationsThe present study is an empirical analysis of the determinants of leverage of real estate sector in India with most recent available data. Different regression equations have been formed to develop the models using firm-specific determinants and different measures of leverage or capital structure. Data were regressed using SPSS application software, and the resulting (or obtained) regression outputs are analysed. This study will help the Indian real estate companies to the know the impact of different variables while raising short-term and long-term loans.Social implicationsThe current study will benefit all stakeholders of society who are fascinated to be acquainted with the financing of real estate companies and the factors affecting long-term and short-term financing of this sector. Specifically, public engrossed in different modes of investment and financial institution will be the prime gainers.Originality/valueThe present study has been completed using authentic data from the annual reports and database. This study uses explanatory variables and different measures of leverage which were limited in use in previous studies. Moreover, this research is a comprehensive study that deals with developing different regression models by using diverse measures of leverage.

scholarly journals What determine firms’ capital structure in China?

2014 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 1024-1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Chen ◽  
Chunxia Jiang ◽  
Yujia Lin
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Cross Section ◽  
State Ownership ◽  
Debt Financing ◽  
Chinese Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Ownership Effect ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Section Sample

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the determinants of capital structure using a cross-section sample of 1,481 non-financial firms listed on the Chinese stock exchanges in 2011. Design/methodology/approach – Employing four leverage measures (total leverage and long-term leverage in terms of both book value and market value, respectively) this study examines the effects of factors with proven influences on capital structure in literature, along with industry effect and ownership effect. Findings – The authors find that large firms favour debt financing while profitable firms rely more on internal capital accumulation. Intangibility and business risk increase the level of debt financing but tax has little impact on capital structure. The authors also observe strong industrial effect and ownership effect. Real estate firms borrow considerably more and firms from utility and manufacturing industries use more long-term debt despite compared with commercial firms. On the other hand, firms with state ownership tend to borrow more, while firms with foreign ownership choose more equity financing. Research limitations/implications – The study uses cross-section data to avoid any potential time effects, which allows the authors to focus on their main research question – to identify the determinants of capital structure for Chinese firms. Future research may gain more insights using panel data and considering other factors such as crisis and financial reforms. Practical implications – These results may provide important implications to investors in making investment decision and to firms in making financing decisions. Originality/value – This paper uses by far the largest and latest cross-section sample from the Chinese stock markets, offering a more complete picture of the financing behaviours in the Chinese firms, with known characters and the impact of ownerships.

Do working capital management practices influence investment and financing patterns of firms?

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahsan Akbar ◽  
Xinfeng Jiang ◽  
Minhas Akbar
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Capital Management ◽  
Working Capital ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Working Capital Management ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Investment And Financing ◽  
The Impact

PurposeThe present study aims to investigate the impact of working capital management (WCM) practices on the investment and financing patterns of listed nonfinancial companies in Pakistan for a span of 10 years.Design/methodology/approachThe study is based on secondary financial data of 354 listed nonfinancial Pakistani firms during the period of 2005–2014. The two-step generalized method of moment (GMM) regression estimation technique is employed to ensure the robustness of results.FindingsEmpirical testing reveals that: excessive funds tied up in working capital have a negative impact on the investment portfolio of sample firms. Besides, a negative relationship between change in fixed assets and excess net working capital posits that, eventually, firms use idle resources tied up in short-lived assets to boost their investment activities. Furthermore, larger working capital levels were associated with higher leverage ratio which indicates that firms with inefficient WCM policies have to rely heavily on long-term debt to meet their short-term financing requirements. Additional results indicate that firms that take more time to sell inventory and convert receivables to cash, make more use of debt. Results of cash management models illustrate that cash-rich firms have lower leverage levels which signal the strong financial health and internal revenue generation capability of such firms.Originality/valueThere is a dearth of empirical studies that examine the implications of WCM decisions on a firm's capital structure. Besides, these studies are only confined to how a WCM policy influences the long-term investment activities of a firm. The research contributes to the extant literature by empirically revealing a link between the WCM practices and the firm's long-range investment and financing patterns. Hence, financial managers shall account for the impact of their short-term financial management decisions on the capital structure of the firm.

The dynamics of capital structure and heterogeneous systematic risk classes in Egypt

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tarek I. Eldomiaty ◽  
Mohamed H. Azim
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Systematic Risk ◽  
Free Cash Flow ◽  
Debt Financing ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Pecking Order ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Basic Assumptions ◽  
Medium Risk

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine firms' strategies to change long‐ and short‐term debt financing in Egypt. It aims to examine a list of capital structure determinants that include the basic assumptions of the three well‐known theories of capital structure: tradeoff, pecking order, and free cash.Design/methodology/approachThe paper utilizes the properties of partial adjustment model for three heterogeneous systematic risk classes: high, medium and low. The sensitivity analysis is carried out using the “extreme bound analysis”.FindingsThe results indicate that Egyptian firms adjust short‐ and long‐term debt according to the class of systematic risk; long‐term debt is a source of financing at all classes of systematic risk; firms have obvious tendency to extent short‐ to long‐term one; medium risk firms adjust long‐term debt according to the industry average debt, and depend heavily on long‐term debt financing; firms depend significantly and constantly on the liquidity position to adjust short‐term debt levels; and medium risk firms are relatively affected by the basic assumptions of free cash flow and low‐risk firms are relatively affected by the assumptions of the pecking order theory.Research limitations/implicationsIn general, the results provide evidence that the three theories have transitory effect from developed markets to transitional markets. In addition, the firm‐specific variables (industry characteristic, size and time) provide an additional support to the robustness of the results.Originality/valueFew, if any studies, have been carried out in Egyptian data.

scholarly journals Corporate social responsibility, environmental leadership and financial performance

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dafna M. DiSegni ◽  
Moshe Huly ◽  
Sagi Akron
Keyword(s):  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Capital Structure ◽  
Financial Performance ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Operating Efficiency ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Financial Measures ◽  
Liquidity Measures

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to statistically assess the relationship between corporate characteristics, environmental contribution and financial performance. To this end, the authors compare the financial performance of all US corporations making up the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes, being the most proactive companies in providing services and goods, while maintaining ethical responsibility and environmental sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – Various performance measures are compared to the mean performance of the related industry, sector and market portfolio. We employ an analysis for several time horizons of the financial measures. Findings – Analysis by the authors suggests that firms that are proactive in supporting social responsibility and environmental sustainability (SRES corporations) are characterized by significantly higher profit measures than the industry and the sector, though not higher than the entire market. They have lower short-term liquidity measures than those of the industry and related sector, and surprisingly, their long-term leverage is significantly higher. Strong SRES corporations are characterized by significantly higher managerial efficiency ratios than the respective industry and sector. Interestingly, however, the per-worker operating efficiency ratios are significantly lower than for all of the benchmarks. Practical implications – The revealed preference of corporations can be extracted from several horizon dependent financial measures. For instance, we could infer the corporate degree of SRES from their long-term capital structure, i.e. their long-term leverages and short-term liquidity measures. Originality/value – These results illustrate the strong relation between social and environmental sustainability, and long-term business plans in respect to the corporate capital structure.

Industry classification and the capital structure of Ghanaian SMEs

2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (3) ◽  
pp. 207-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Abor
Keyword(s):  
Capital Structure ◽  
Agricultural Sector ◽  
Manufacturing Sector ◽  
Retail Trade ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Analytical Technique ◽  
Industry Classification ◽  
The Capital Structure

PurposeThis study seeks to examine the effect of industry classification on the capital structure of SMEs in Ghana.Design/methodology/approachThe analytical technique employed is regression framework with various capital structure measures as dependent variables, and with industry as the independent variable. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and other non‐parametric tests were also used to examine the differences in the capital structure of the SMEs across industries.FindingsThe results of this study indicate that SMEs in the agricultural sector exhibit the highest capital structure and asset structure or collateral value, while the wholesale and retail trade industry have the lowest debt ratio and asset structure. The regression results indicate that agriculture and pharmaceutical and medical industries depend more on long‐term and short‐term debt than does the manufacturing sector. Information and communication, and wholesale and retail trade sectors are more likely to use short‐term credit than the manufacturing sector. The results also show that the construction and mining industry is less likely to depend on short‐term debt, while hotel and hospitality depend more on long‐term debt and less on short‐term finance. The results clearly indicate that industry effect is important in explaining the capital structure of SMEs and that there are variations in capital structure across the various industries.Originality/valueThe main value of this paper is the analysis of the effect of industry classification on SMEs' capital structure from the Ghanaian perspective. The study provides insights on the financing behaviour of SMEs across various industries in Ghana.

How do they adjust their capital structure along their life cycle? An empirical study about capital structure over life cycle of Pakistani firms

2016 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 276-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tanveer Ahsan ◽  
Man Wang ◽  
Muhammad Azeem Qureshi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Capital Structure ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Life Cycles ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Life Cycle Stages ◽  
Investment Opportunities

Purpose The purpose of this study is to explain the adjustment rate made to target capital structures by listed non-financial firms in Pakistan during the courses of their life cycles and to determine what factors influence their adjustment rates. Design/methodology/approach The study used multivariate analysis to classify 39 years (1972-2010) of unbalanced panel data from listed non-financial Pakistani firms in terms of their growth, maturity and decline stages. Further, it used a fixed-effects panel data model to determine the factors that influence capital structure and adjustment rates during the life-cycle stages of firms. Findings The study observed a low–high–low leverage pattern during the growth, maturity and decline stages of businesses in line with tradeoff theory. Furthermore, the study observed an adjustment rate for growing firms of between 49.3-37.9 per cent, for mature firms of between 35.5-17.5 per cent and for declining firms of between 22.2-15.1 per cent toward their respective leverage targets. Furthermore, it was found that growing firms have higher leverage adjustment rates because, by having more investment opportunities, these firms can alter their capital structures easily by changing the composition of their new issues. Practical implications Erratic economic conditions in Pakistan have created an uncertain business environment. Therefore, even mature Pakistani firms remain skeptical about the sustainability of positive trends among current economic indicators. Furthermore, to avoid uncertainty, Pakistani firms grab short-term opportunities by using quickly available short-term debt as a main financing source. Government should introduce long-term policies that will stabilize the business environment and strengthen the financial, as well as the judicial, institutions of the country so that these firms may benefit from long-term investment opportunities and access more options for raising external financing. The results of this study will also help policymakers for other Asian economies where the capital markets are underdeveloped and where firms have higher leverage ratios, such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Originality/value This is the first study in Pakistan that has used a multivariate approach to classify firms into their different life-cycle stages and to discover the leverage adjustment rates of firms during those life-cycle stages.

The chicken and egg story of a call centre in Malaysia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-25
Author(s):  
Alan Fun-Foo Chan ◽  
Keng-Kok Tee ◽  
Thanuja Rathakrishnan ◽  
Jo Ann Ho ◽  
Siew-Imm Ng
Keyword(s):  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Call Centre ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Security Technologies ◽  
Academic Level ◽  
Key Account ◽  
Substandard Performance ◽  
Alternative Solutions

Learning outcomes After attempting the case, users are able to: analyse issues and problems faced by a call centre in Malaysia. Determine the root causes of the problems faced by call centre employees and generate alternative solutions to solve the problems faced by the company and to ensure the sustainability of the business. Case overview/synopsis This case was about the challenges faced by Daniel, the General Manager of an integrated security protection system company, Secure First (SF). Despite investing in the latest security technologies, conducting a major overhaul of the procedures, introducing an enhanced digital system at the call centre and providing training to the call agents, it was on the verge of losing its important long-term client due to its substandard performance. The client experienced major losses due to break-ins. After a thorough investigation, the problem surfaced in their call centre. Most of the staff were not familiar with the newly adopted system. The circumstances worsened when many of the call centre’s senior employees were tendering their resignations. The case discusses the aspect of employee satisfaction, staff performance that led to the turnover issue amongst employees in a call centre. The case explores what short-term and long-term strategies could Daniel suggest to change the call centre’s course to retain SF’s key account in times of desperation. Complexity academic level This case has a moderate level of difficulty and may be used in undergraduate students. Supplementary materials Teaching notes are available for educators only. Subject code CSS 6: Human resource management.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document