掠夺效应还是治理效应：产品市场竞争提升现金持有价值的机理检验

通过实证检验产品市场竞争对中国上市公司现金持有价值产生影响的不同作用机理,结果发现：产品市场竞争确实可以促进中国上市公司现金持有价值的提升,这种作用机理更多地来自产品市场竞争的掠夺效应而不是治理效应。进一步研究发现：掠夺效应和治理效应可以通过融资约束得到更好的区分,在融资约束公司中掠夺效应表现更为显著。揭示了中国上市公司产品市场竞争对公司现金持有价值的具体促进机制,并检验了融资约束在其中的影响。     

CEO organizational identification and firm cash holdings

As the decision-makers and implementers of a firm’s financial strategy, executives play a critical role in cash holding activities, and their psychological characteristics have a major impact on cash holdings. This paper investigates the association between CEO organizational identification and firm cash holdings. The empirical results show that CEO organizational identification is negatively associated with firm cash holdings, and the negative association is more pronounced when the level of financial development is higher and economic uncertainty is lower. Further analysis reveals that the higher a CEO’s organizational identification, the higher the firm’s R&D investment and capital expenditure, and high CEO organizational identification can increase the value of firm cash holdings. Overall, our findings supplement the literature on organizational identification and cash holdings, and on the effect of executives’ psychological characteristics on corporate financial decision-making.     

Shariah compliance and corporate cash holdings

This study investigates the influence of Shariah compliance status on cash holding levels and the speed of adjustment of non-financial listed firms in six Gulf Cooperation countries from 2005 to 2016. The results show that Shariah compliance status has a significant effect on firms’ cash holding decisions. Shariah-compliant firms have significantly higher cash holding levels than non-Shariah-compliant firms. Further, Shariah-compliant firms adjust more quickly towards their target cash holdings than their conventional counterparts. In our view, Shariah-compliant firms are subject to multiple restrictions that limit their external financing channels. Therefore, holding larger cash reserves is important as it helps gain from the transaction cost motive of holding cash. The findings of this study have important implications for regulators, investors and managers. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to compare the effect of Shariah compliance on firms’ cash holdings and the speed of adjustment towards the trade-off theory’s optimal cash holding target.     

The effect of sovereign wealth funds on corporations: Evidence of cash policies in Singapore

This paper studies the monitoring role of sovereign wealth funds (SWFs). By using unique dataset from one of the largest SWF: Temasek holdings, we find that SWF’s presence has a positive effect on cash holdings of portfolio companies. The effect is more pronounced for well-governed firms, indicating that Temasek increases corporate cash holdings through its active role in corporate governance. We further find supportive evidence that Temasek ownership affects cash holdings by hoarding excess cash and reducing capital expenditure, especially within firms with good governance. Temasek’s discerning effect on cash policies highlights the effective monitoring role of sovereign wealth funds.     

Directors’ education and corporate liquidity: evidence from boards in Taiwan

This study relates a firm’s cash holdings and their value to the board of directors’ level of education. Using a sample of firms on the Taiwan Stock Exchange during the period from 2006 to 2012, we find that firms with a highly educated board tend to hold more cash and are associated with a higher value of cash. This fact is especially evident among financially constrained firms. Our findings suggest that highly educated boards provide more efficient monitoring and advisory functions, and thus complement corporate governance.     

激进战略与企业现金持有——预防性动机还是代理动机

以2007-2016年A股非金融上市公司为样本,考察了公司战略激进程度对现金持有决策的影响,并从现金持有价值与竞争效应两个角度,探讨不同公司战略类型下现金持有经济后果的差异。研究结果显示：公司战略越激进,企业现金持有水平越高;并且战略越激进,现金持有价值越高,现金的竞争效应越强。进一步研究表明：随着融资约束和经济政策不确定性的提高,采取激进战略的公司,现金持有水平进一步提高。这说明公司战略是影响现金持有决策的重要因素,而战略激进的公司持有大量现金主要是出于预防性动机,而非代理动机。     

The relationship between a firm’s information environment and its cash holding decision

This study directly investigates the relationship between the firm’s information environment and its cash holding decision using two separate country-level events as proxies for a general improvement of the information environment: the initial enforcement of new insider trading laws and the mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards. Analysing a large international sample, we find that firms reduce their cash holdings after both exogenous information shocks. We also find that the reductions are greater for firms facing greater financing constraints and agency issues, and for those for which the informational shocks are stronger. Further analyses reveal a reduction in firms’ average cash savings rate, an increase in performance, an increase in the use of external debt, a decrease in abnormal investment, and an increase in the value of cash holdings. Taken together, our results suggest that an improvement in the information environment mitigates both the adverse selection and moral hazard problems thereby, leading to a reduction in cash reserves held for transaction and precautionary motives, and the likelihood of entrenched managers building large cash balances for private benefit.     

董事会断裂带与企业薪酬差距

高管与普通员工之间的薪酬差距不仅影响着企业的激励效率与企业价值,还关系到社会的公平与稳定。断裂带是Lau and Murnighan(1998)提出的假想的分割线概念,即可以将团队划分为多个小团体。以2005—2019年中国A股上市公司为样本,本文从董事会断裂带这一视角探索董事会中小团体的差异性对于薪酬差距的影响和后果。本文研究发现:(1)董事会断裂带的存在加剧了企业高管与普通员工之间的薪酬差距;(2)分解董事会断裂带的类型后,由深层特征形成的断裂带对于薪酬差距的影响高于由表层特征形成的断裂带;(3)区分行业竞争的程度后,公司所在行业的激烈竞争有助于缓解董事会断裂带造成的薪酬差距扩大;(4)从经济后果来看,董事会断裂带造成的薪酬差距对企业绩效具有显著的负向影响。本文的研究有助于深入理解企业薪酬差距形成的机制及其后果,同时对于完善我国董事会的监督机制也有一定的现实启发。     

Organization capital and corporate cash holdings

This paper investigates the relationship between organization capital and corporate cash holdings. We develop two competing hypotheses in relating organization capital with cash holding. Our analysis reveals that organization capital is related to high levels of cash holdings. Moreover, we find that the effect of organization capital on corporate cash holdings is stronger for firms experiencing high levels of financing constraint and cash flow risk. Our results remain robust to alternative measures of organization capital and corporate cash holdings, and are not driven by omitted variable bias or endogeneity issues. We also find that the positive relation between organization capital and cash holdings is not confounded by sample period or industry group. Overall, we provide robust evidence that supports the precautionary motive for corporate cash holding.     

Internal controls,risk management,and cash holdings

Exploiting a unique setting in China where internal controls are intended to manage risks, we investigate how internal controls shape the cash holding policies. Results show that firms with higher internal control quality (ICQ) are less likely to have abnormal cash holdings, either excess or deficit cash, and this effect is not driven by corporate governance quality. We also find that firms with higher ICQ are more likely to increase dividend payments and are less likely to increase M&A investments, especially when the firms have had a negative experience with prior M&A investments. Furthermore, our tests on the market valuation of cash holdings show that investors place a higher value on cash holdings of firms with higher ICQ. Collectively, our findings suggest that internal controls help companies shape reasonable cash policies that lead to value creation.     

Excess cash holdings and shareholder value

We examine the determinants of corporate cash holdings in Australia and the impact on shareholder wealth of holding excess cash. Our results show that a trade‐off model best explains the level of a firm’s cash holdings in Australia. We find that ‘transitory’ excess cash firms earn significantly higher risk‐adjusted returns compared to ‘persistent’ excess cash firms, suggesting that the market penalises firms that hoard cash. The marginal value of cash also declines with larger cash balances, and the longer firms hold on to excess cash. The results are consistent with agency costs associated with persistence in excess cash holdings.     

The effect of financial constraints,investment policy,product market competition and corporate governance on the value of cash holdings

This study empirically investigates the value shareholders place on excess cash holdings and how shareholders’ valuation of cash holdings is associated with financial constraints, firm growth, cash‐flow uncertainty and product market competition for Australian firms from 1990 to 2007. Our results indicate that the marginal value of cash holdings to shareholders declines with larger cash holdings and higher leverage. However, firms that are more financially constrained, that have higher growth rates and that face greater uncertainty exhibit a higher marginal value of cash holdings. These findings are consistent with the explanation that excess cash holdings are not necessarily detrimental to firm value. Firms with costly external financing and that also save more cash for current operating and future investing needs find that the market values these cash hoarding policies favourably. Finally, there is limited evidence of an association between various corporate governance measures and the value of cash holdings for a shorter sample period.     

公司特征、股权结构与现金持有量

在中国特定的制度和治理背景下探讨企业特征与股权结构对企业现金持有量的影响,并从静态和动态两个角度进行实证研究的结果表明,虽然静态实证结果显示权衡理论、代理理论和融资优序理论都能一定程度上解释中国企业的现金持有行为,但动态实证结果显示中国上市公司的现金持有量具有动态的均值复归趋势。这符合权衡理论和代理理论的预期,但不符合融资优序理论预期。     

超额现金持有水平与产品市场竞争优势——来自中国上市公司的经验证据

有关企业持现动机及其经济后果的已有研究较少关注现金持有的战略效应。本文借鉴公司战略经济学理论,探索性地研究了企业超额持现对产品市场竞争优势的影响,为企业财务决策与产品市场竞争之间的紧密联系提供了新的经验证据。我们研究发现,企业超额持现具有战略效应,且超额持现水平与产品市场竞争优势呈倒U型关系。进一步的研究显示,与民营企业相比,国有企业在相对较低的超额持现水平上出现对产品市场竞争优势影响的负向净效应。     

International evidence on the non-linear impact of leverage on corporate cash holdings

This paper investigates cash holding behaviour of firms from France, Germany, Japan, the UK and the US using data for 4069 companies over the period 1996–2000. Our focus is particularly on the relation between cash holdings and leverage. We argue that the impact of leverage on cash balances of firms is likely to be non-monotonic. To the extent that leverage of firms acts as a proxy for their ability to issue debt one would expect a negative (substitution effect) relation between leverage and cash holdings. However, as leverage increases firms are likely to accumulate larger cash reserves to minimise the risk of financial distress and costly bankruptcy. Thus, one would expect a positive (precautionary effect) relationship between cash holdings and leverage at high levels of leverage. Our findings provide strong and robust support for a significant non-linear relation between cash holdings and leverage. Additionally, our results show that the impact of leverage on cash holdings partly depends on country-specific characteristics such as the degree of creditor protection, shareholder protection, and ownership concentration.     

Cash holdings,risk, and expected returns

In this paper I develop and empirically test a model that highlights how the correlation between cash flows and a source of aggregate risk affects a firm's optimal cash holding policy. In the model, riskier firms (i.e., firms with a higher correlation between cash flows and the aggregate shock) are more likely to use costly external funding to finance their growth option exercises and have higher optimal savings. This precautionary savings motive implies a positive relation between expected equity returns and cash holdings. In addition, this positive relation is stronger for firms with less valuable growth options. Using a data set of US pubic companies, I find evidence consistent with the model's predictions.     

Liquidity and the Future Stock Returns of the REIT Industry

This paper examines how deviations from expected optimal cash holdings affect future stock returns in the real estate investment trust (REIT) industry. Our findings indicate that REIT managers elect to hold less cash to reduce the agency problems of cash flow, supporting the pecking order theory that growth opportunities lead managers to retain more cash on hand. The results show that any deviation from the estimated optimal cash holdings is significantly detrimental to future market performance, suggesting that excess or insufficient cash is harmful to stock returns. The adverse influence of deviations above the optimal value is insignificantly stronger than that of deviations below the optimal value. We also find that the return performances of deviations that do not differ from the expected optimal value surpass those of deviations that differ significantly from the expected level. This implies that REIT managers determine their cash policies based on future growth opportunities and the external costs of capital. Finally, for REIT firms, holding excess or insufficient cash increases the possibility of agency conflict or underinvestment, which will consequently worsen the firm??s future performance.     

Derivatives holdings and systemic risk in the U.S. banking sector

This paper studies the impact of the banks’ portfolio holdings of financial derivatives on the banks’ individual contribution to systemic risk over and above the effect of variables related to size, interconnectedness, substitutability, and other balance sheet information. Using a sample of 95 U.S. bank holding companies from 2002 to 2011, we compare five measures of the banks’ contribution to systemic risk and find that the new measure proposed in this study, Net Shapley Value, outperforms the others. Using this measure we find that banks’ aggregate holdings of five classes of derivatives do not exhibit a significant effect on the bank’s contribution to systemic risk. On the contrary, the banks’ holdings of certain specific types of derivatives such as foreign exchange and credit derivatives increase the banks contributions to systemic risk whereas holdings of interest rate derivatives decrease it. Nevertheless, the proportion of non-performing loans over total loans and the leverage ratio have much stronger impact on systemic risk than derivatives holdings. Therefore, the derivatives’ impact plays a second fiddle in comparison with traditional banking activities related to the former two items.     

Does board gender diversity affect corporate cash holdings?

This paper examines whether board gender diversity affects corporate cash holdings using S&P 1500 index firms in the US for the period 2006–2015. We document a significantly negative relationship between board gender diversity and cash holdings. We also find a strong negative effect of female independent directors consistent with monitoring function. Moreover, in accordance with the critical mass theory, we find a negative effect of female directors’ presence and voice on cash holdings. Our findings are robust to alternative econometric specifications, alternative measures of cash holdings and corporate governance, difference‐in‐differences, propensity score matching, and two‐stage least squares. This study offers useful insights into the current global debate on gender diversity and its implications for firms.     

National Culture and the Valuation of Cash Holdings

Prior studies document that national culture traits are systematically related to cash holdings and attribute this to managerial cultural predispositions. However, it is possible that these preferences reflect investors’ cultural preferences and that managers are simply catering to investors’ preferences. It is also not clear whether the cash holding effects previously documented are value maximizing. By examining the impact of national culture traits on cash valuation, we are able to provide insight into these questions. Specifically, we examine the effect of three national culture traits – individualism, uncertainty avoidance and long‐term orientation – on firm cash valuation. Our results suggest that the previously observed effects of cultural traits on cash holdings and attributed to managerial cultural biases do not reflect investors’ preferences and are not value maximizing.