Search results
1 – 10 of over 30000Umar Farooq, Mosab I. Tabash, Ahmed Abousamak and Samar Habib
Corporate firms often follow their peer firms to articulate multiple financial decisions. Among the others, trade credit policy is a vital financial decision that can impart its…
Abstract
Purpose
Corporate firms often follow their peer firms to articulate multiple financial decisions. Among the others, trade credit policy is a vital financial decision that can impart its dynamic role in achieving financial efficiency. Therefore, the current analysis aims to assess the role of herding behavior in determining the trade credit policies of corporate firms and its relevant effect on corporate financial performance.
Design/methodology/approach
For this purpose, the financial data of 13089 nonfinancial sector firms from 50 countries are employed and the dynamic generalized method of moments (GMM) model to estimate the regression is applied.
Findings
The empirical findings first reveal that corporate firms actively mimic their peer firms regarding trade credit policies. However, this mimicking behavior hampers the financial performance due to noncompatibility with peers’ trade credit policies. Peer firms often develop such trade credit policies that are not applicable to corporate firms.
Practical implications
Mainly, the findings of the study suggest two implications. First, it highlights the peer effect in terms of trade credit patterns. Second, it elaborates an adverse effect regarding financial performance due to herding of peers’ trade credit policies.
Originality/value
This study adds new thoughts regarding herding behavior in terms of trade credit policy and its possible consequences for corporate financial performance. No study explores such a relationship.
Details
Keywords
This paper aims to test for a potential target accounts payable ratio and the determinants of accounts payable ratio.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to test for a potential target accounts payable ratio and the determinants of accounts payable ratio.
Design/methodology/approach
The author use data from 104 firms over the period 2000-2014 and analyse these data using the system-generalised method of moments methodology.
Findings
The author find that Jordanian firms have a target accounts payable ratio and more than 65 per cent of the deviation from target is closed within a year. He find a positive impact of growth, positive growth and supply of credit on the accounts payable ratio. Furthermore, large firms use less trade credit to finance their purchases.
Research limitations/implications
A number of limitations affect this study to be considered in future research. Future researchers could cover longer period of time. To generalise the results, non-listed firms may be included in the sample.
Practical implications
In addition to extending the finance literature, this study has managerial implications regarding trade credit policy. There is strong evidence that the trade credit policy is affected by firm’s access towards capital market funds. Thus, regulators and policy maker should bear in mind that the banking system should help firms to achieve their target accounts payable ratio. In addition, firm’s management should be aware of the importance of trade credit to finance sales growth. All of these results should assist firm managers to find the factors that affect the target accounts payable ratio, which ultimately may affect the firm value and performance.
Originality/value
To the best of author’s knowledge, this is the first study on the partial adjustment model and determinants of accounts payable in Jordan. Thus, the authors aim to contribute to the existing literature, as there are very few studies test for target trade credit policy.
Details
Keywords
Salima Y. Paul and Rebecca Boden
The supply of trade credit by small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) is the product of both customer demand and the possibility of strategic advantage, but is subject to risk…
Abstract
Purpose
The supply of trade credit by small‐ to medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) is the product of both customer demand and the possibility of strategic advantage, but is subject to risk. In the current financial climate the demand for trade credit may be heightened, leading to further increased risk. This paper seeks to evaluate current risk mitigation measures in the UK and considers how these might be improved.
Design/methodology/approach
The supply of and demand for trade credit and the inherent risks are explained by reference to the literature. Then, using both the academic and grey literature and data from a large‐scale questionnaire, the paper highlights the limitations of both regulatory and management approaches to mitigate the risks in the context of UK SMEs. Finally, the paper considers the prospects for improved management.
Findings
Trade credit may be a product of market demand or a desire to extract strategic advantage. Both regulatory measures and internal management regimes have failed to mitigate risks in the UK for SMEs extending trade credit.
Practical implications
The paper concludes that current UK regulatory regimes are unlikely to prove effective and that better management of trade credit may be imperilled by the power imbalances between SMEs and larger firms. The paper suggests areas for the improvement of trade credit management under the headings of policies, people, processes and practices within SMEs.
Originality/value
The paper demonstrates why, despite the risk, UK SMEs offer trade credit and consider how those risks might be mitigated.
Details
Keywords
Harshali Damle and Rajesh Kumar Sinha
Literature sparsely documents the association between the deviant behavior of a firm and its financial policies. Trade credit is one of the most critical financial policies of a…
Abstract
Purpose
Literature sparsely documents the association between the deviant behavior of a firm and its financial policies. Trade credit is one of the most critical financial policies of a firm. In this study, the authors examine the association between strategic deviance and trade credit.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors explore a strategy-based explanation for trade credit by examining whether strategic deviance affects trade credit using a sample of 33 countries from 1996 to 2020. The authors test the hypothesis using static OLS regression models. To address autocorrelation and endogeneity issues, the authors use dynamic OLS models, lag models, and instrumental variable approach.
Findings
The authors find that an increase in strategic deviance reduces both demand and supply of trade credit, and the study’s results indicate that a one standard deviation increase in strategic deviance leads to a 1.34% decrease in the demand for trade credit. Also, a one standard deviation increase in strategic deviance leads to a 2.26% fall in the supply of trade credit.
Practical implications
This study facilitates managers to formulate trade credit policies when choosing a deviant strategy.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to explore the association between strategic deviance and trade credit policies.
Details
Keywords
Lucia Gibilaro and Gianluca Mattarocci
The aim of the study is to provide evidence on the distress in the supply chain and its impact on the trade credit policy, firms’ performance and risk and their growth…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of the study is to provide evidence on the distress in the supply chain and its impact on the trade credit policy, firms’ performance and risk and their growth opportunities. Trade credit creates a strict relation between suppliers and customers that cannot be easily substituted over time. The linkages established between firms in a supply chain are a key value added for all members that could represent a competitive advantage over independent market players. In the event of a supply chain disruption, all members could suffer from a decrease in profitability and an increase in risk. Nonetheless, no empirical evidence exists on the expected economic and financial effects on pertinent suppliers and customers.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper examines the US market and evaluates the impact of a supply chain member’s default on the other members, looking at both the customers’ and suppliers’ default. The sample considers all firms in the USA disclosing entry into bankruptcy proceedings through EDGAR filings that were not classified as financial intermediaries between 2012 and 2016. The analysis considers the effect of distress on the supply chain (suppliers or customers) on the trade credit policy, performance, risk and growth perspectives of connected firms.
Findings
The results show that a supply chain disruption not only modifies the trade credit policy but also affects firm risk and profitability and the financing sources available to support firm growth. Empirical evidence shows that the bankruptcy of a member of the supply chain affects the trade credit policy of all the other members. The costs related to default are economically and financially relevant to all supply chain members and affect the resiliency of the supply chain beyond the short term.
Originality/value
This paper uses an original and innovative database to empirically test the impact of corporate distress on supply chain financing, performance, risk and growth opportunities.
Details
Keywords
Harri Lorentz, Tomi Solakivi, Juuso Töyli and Lauri Ojala
The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of how the business cycle affects net-trade-credit and its components in firms on different tiers of the value chain, including…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence of how the business cycle affects net-trade-credit and its components in firms on different tiers of the value chain, including retail, wholesale and two consecutive manufacturing tiers.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected by the means of four surveys in the years 2006, 2009, 2012 and 2014, representing different phases of the business cycle, that is, from strong economic growth to a deep recession and on to slow recovery and finally into decline. Descriptive statistics and three ANOVA models were used in the analysis of the data.
Findings
The distinctive profile of each value chain tier appears to have an effect on tier-specific trade credit dynamics. Overall, upstream positioned firms and small firms are likely to experience a decline in the net-trade-credit during uncertain economic times. The type of task interdependence between tiers also appears to affect trade credit dynamics in some tiers of the value chain. Furthermore, initiated by recession, certain trade credit dynamics in the value chain suggest a mechanism that transmits an increased working capital burden from customers to suppliers along the value chain.
Research limitations/implications
Results are based on survey research with a limited amount of respondents and geographical coverage, implying limited generalisability. The use of implicit measures limits the conclusiveness of the research.
Originality/value
The conventional perception of the power-based determination of trade credit policies is complemented with a value chain-related task interdependence perspective. The results of this paper also highlight that a more holistic value chain perceptive on working capital management would be more sustainable in comparison to firm-centric approaches.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to identify three factors leading to the observed decline in trade credit offered from publicly traded firms.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify three factors leading to the observed decline in trade credit offered from publicly traded firms.
Design/methodology/approach
The study conducts firm fixed effect regressions testing the relationship between cash flow volatility and firm investment in trade credit. The relationship is further examined with all firms separated into two groups, based on SIC codes, designating if they are in industries that traditionally offer higher amounts of trade credit.
Findings
The proportion of US firms that has traditionally extended the most trade credit has been decreasing over time, contributing to part of the decline in trade credit offered. Increases in cash flow volatility have also contributed to decreasing investment in trade credit. The negative relationship with cash flow volatility is greatest amongst firms that traditionally place the highest value on trade credit. Firms with access to credit, proxied by investment grade debt ratings, do not experience the same decline in trade credit offered.
Practical implications
Firms that value the ability to extend trade credit may maintain their level of investment in trade credit, even with increased risk of cash flow volatility, by maintaining a comparative advantage in access to credit.
Originality/value
This study extends prior findings by providing three previously unexplored explanations for the decline in offered trade credit seen in the USA. The changing make-up of publicly traded firms, a market-wide increase in cash flow volatility, and access to credit all play an important role in observed declines of trade credit investment.
Details
Keywords
Fitim Deari, Valeriya Lakshina and Kseniya Lapshina
The purpose of this study is to empirically test the hypothesis about substitution of trade and bank credits during the crisis period among 1,570 firms from 16 developing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to empirically test the hypothesis about substitution of trade and bank credits during the crisis period among 1,570 firms from 16 developing countries.
Design/methodology/approach
The study examines the dynamics of trade credits, following previous studies with special emphasis on the research by Love et al. (2007). The foregoing methodology was expanded by taking into account the effects of the interdependence between firms by means of spatial panel model.
Findings
The study reveals that, taking into account spatial effects, there is a positive relationship between bank and trade credits, that is, they behave as complements for each other. Significant positive spatial correlation, obtained for the firms within the same country or cluster, points to the presence of externalities inside these groups. The latter implies that neighboring firms demonstrate similar unidirectional dynamics of trade credits.
Originality/value
Results of this study may create a basis for policy implementation in the sphere of corporate lending, and allow to build appropriate supporting policies during crisis period.
Details
Keywords
Chris Harris, Scott Roark and Zhe Li
The purpose of this paper is to identify the relation between cash flow volatility and trade credit offered by firms in developing Asian economies.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to identify the relation between cash flow volatility and trade credit offered by firms in developing Asian economies.
Design/methodology/approach
The study conducts country fixed effect regressions testing the relationship between cash flow volatility and firm investment in trade credit. The relationship is then examined with all firms separated into two groups based on firm size, and then again comparing the relation before and after the 2008 finasncial crisis.
Findings
Higher levels of cash flow volatility are negatively related to the amount of trade credit offered. The negative relationship with cash flow volatility is greater amongst smaller firms that may have less access to external sources of capital. Additionally, the negative relationship is greater following the 2008 financial crisis.
Practical implications
Trade credit plays an important role in the business process, particularly in developing economies. However, these firms may not be able to maintain their investment in trade credit when experiencing greater levels of cash flow volatility. These results are especially pronounced after the 2008 financial crisis and for small firms.
Originality/value
This study identifies an important connection between cash flow volatility and firm investment in trade credit among firms in developing Asian economies.
Details
Keywords
Nita H. Shah, Ajay S. Gor and Chetan A. Jhaveri
The purpose of this paper is to study integrated inventory system and pricing and ordering strategy for vendor‐buyer supply chain system. Here, the vendor offers a trade credit to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study integrated inventory system and pricing and ordering strategy for vendor‐buyer supply chain system. Here, the vendor offers a trade credit to the buyer when the buyer's order quantity exceeds a given pre‐specified quantity. Therefore, to incorporate the concept of vendor‐buyer integration and trade credit linked, the authors analyze the model to determine the optimal strategy for an integrated vendor‐buyer inventory system under the condition of credit linked to the order quantity when demand is quadratic.
Design/methodology/approach
A mathematical model for integrated inventory system is developed when demand rate is increasing function of the time and decreasing function of the retail price. By analyzing the total channel profit function, the authors developed some useful results to characterize the optimal solution and provide an iterative algorithm to find the retail price, buyer's order quantity and the number of shipments per production run from the vendor to the buyer.
Findings
By developing a solution algorithm, the optimal retail price, order quantity and number of shipments from the vendor to the buyer are provided. Numerical examples and sensitivity analyses are presented to validate the proposed model. Through extensive numerical analyses, it is observed that a longer credit term increases profits of the player for the entire supply chain. The vendor should establish the threshold for allowing trade credit comprehensively to ensure the greatest benefit for both players.
Originality/value
Most of the research articles available in the literature considered the constant demand or linearly changing demand. In this paper, a mathematical model is developed considering time dependent quadratic demand. Very few researchers have investigated joint optimal policy in vendor‐buyer supply chain system, considering trade credit is linked to order quantity, and still there are not many findings on the benefit of integrated policy and trade credit.
Details