IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/corfin/v23y2013icp332-344.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the strategic use of debt and capacity in rapidly expanding markets

Author

Listed:
  • Leach, J. Chris
  • Moyen, Nathalie
  • Yang, Jing

Abstract

We exploit the 1996 telecommunications deregulation as a quasi-natural experiment to investigate whether incumbents alter debt and capacity tactics when facing new rivals. We find that incumbents increase leverage after deregulation, even when controlling for traditional determinants and market conditions. Consistent with a new post-deregulation benefit, a higher leverage is positively related to market shares. This behavior appears only in telecommunication segments most affected by the deregulation. We find weak evidence for increased use of capacity tactics. Our findings for incumbents facing an influx of rivals in a rapidly expanding market differ from those of earlier studies considering mature markets.

Suggested Citation

  • Leach, J. Chris & Moyen, Nathalie & Yang, Jing, 2013. "On the strategic use of debt and capacity in rapidly expanding markets," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 332-344.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:23:y:2013:i:c:p:332-344
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.09.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0929119913000898
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jcorpfin.2013.09.006?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Khanna, Naveen & Tice, Sheri, 2000. "Strategic Responses of Incumbents to New Entry: The Effect of Ownership Structure, Capital Structure, and Focus," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 13(3), pages 749-779.
    2. Michel Poitevin, 1989. "Financial Signalling and the "Deep-Pocket" Argument," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 20(1), pages 26-40, Spring.
    3. A. Michael Spence, 1977. "Entry, Capacity, Investment and Oligopolistic Pricing," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 8(2), pages 534-544, Autumn.
    4. Kovenock, Dan & Phillips, Gordon M, 1997. "Capital Structure and Product Market Behavior: An Examination of Plant Exit and Investment Decisions," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 10(3), pages 767-803.
    5. Dixit, Avinash, 1980. "The Role of Investment in Entry-Deterrence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 90(357), pages 95-106, March.
    6. Campello, Murillo, 2003. "Capital structure and product markets interactions: evidence from business cycles," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 353-378, June.
    7. Drew Fudenberg & Jean Tirole, 1986. "A "Signal-Jamming" Theory of Predation," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 17(3), pages 366-376, Autumn.
    8. Vojislav Maksimovic, 1988. "Capital Structure in Repeated Oligopolies," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(3), pages 389-407, Autumn.
    9. J. Chris Leach & Nathalie Moyen & Jing Yang, 2013. "Debt and Capacity Commitments," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 17(4), pages 1365-1399.
    10. Merton, Robert C, 1974. "On the Pricing of Corporate Debt: The Risk Structure of Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 29(2), pages 449-470, May.
    11. Bolton, Patrick & Scharfstein, David S, 1990. "A Theory of Predation Based on Agency Problems in Financial Contracting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(1), pages 93-106, March.
    12. Dasgupta, Sudipto & Titman, Sheridan, 1998. "Pricing Strategy and Financial Policy," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 11(4), pages 705-737.
    13. Rotemberg, Julio J & Scharfstein, David S, 1990. "Shareholder-Value Maximization and Product-Market Competition," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 3(3), pages 367-391.
    14. Chevalier, Judith A, 1995. "Capital Structure and Product-Market Competition: Empirical Evidence from the Supermarket Industry," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 85(3), pages 415-435, June.
    15. Faure-Grimaud, Antoine, 2000. "Product market competition and optimal debt contracts: The limited liability effect revisited," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1823-1840, December.
    16. Hadlock, Charles J. & Sonti, Ramana, 2012. "Financial Strength and Product Market Competition: Evidence from Asbestos Litigation," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 47(1), pages 179-211, February.
    17. Brander, James A. & Lewis, Tracy R., 1986. "Oligopoly and Financial Structure: The Limited Liability Effect," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 956-970, December.
    18. Reynolds, Stanley S., 1991. "Dynamic oligopoly with capacity adjustment costs," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 491-514, July.
    19. Luigi Zingales, "undated". "Survival of the Fittest or the Fattest? Exit and Financing in the Trucking Industry," CRSP working papers 336, Center for Research in Security Prices, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago.
    20. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:2:p:831-868 is not listed on IDEAS
    21. Fulghieri, P. & Nagarajan, S., 1996. "On the strategic role of high leverage in entry deterrence," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 1-23, January.
    22. Dean Showalter, 1999. "Debt as an Entry Deterrent Under Bertrand Price Competition," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 32(4), pages 1069-1081, August.
    23. Shoji Haruna, 1996. "A Note on Holding Excess Capacity to Deter Entry in a Labour-Managed Industry," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 29(2), pages 493-499, May.
    24. Nalin Kulatilaka & Enrico C. Perotti, 1998. "Strategic Growth Options," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 44(8), pages 1021-1031, August.
    25. Kirman, William I. & Masson, Robert T., 1986. "Capacity signals and entry deterrence," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 25-42, March.
    26. Phillips, Gordon M., 1995. "Increased debt and industry product markets An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 189-238, February.
    27. Junsen Zhang, 1993. "Holding Excess Capacity to Deter Entry in a Labour-Managed Industry," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 26(1), pages 222-234, February.
    28. Povel, Paul & Raith, Michael, 2004. "Financial constraints and product market competition: ex ante vs. ex post incentives," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 917-949, September.
    29. repec:bla:jfinan:v:53:y:1998:i:3:p:905-938 is not listed on IDEAS
    30. Rosenbaum, David I., 1989. "An empirical test of the effect of excess capacity in price setting, capacity-constrained supergames," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 231-241, June.
    31. Campello, Murillo, 2006. "Debt financing: Does it boost or hurt firm performance in product markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 135-172, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huberts, N.F.D. & Dawid, H. & Huisman, K.J.M. & Kort, P.M., 2019. "Entry deterrence by timing rather than overinvestment in a strategic real options framework," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 274(1), pages 165-185.
    2. Majumdar, Sumit K., 2016. "Debt and communications technology diffusion: Retrospective evidence," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 45(2), pages 458-474.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Leach, J. Chris & Moyen, Nathalie & Yang, Jing, 2004. "On the Strategic Use of Debt and Capacity in Imperfectly Competitive Product Markets," SIFR Research Report Series 33, Institute for Financial Research.
    2. Ulrich Hege, 2010. "Acquisition Values and Optimal Financial (In)Flexibility," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 23(7), pages 2865-2899, July.
    3. T. Franck & N. Huyghebaert, 2004. "On the Interactions between Capital Structure and Product Markets.A Survey of the Literature," Review of Business and Economic Literature, KU Leuven, Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB), Review of Business and Economic Literature, vol. 0(4), pages 727-787.
    4. Khanna, Naveen & Tice, Sheri, 2005. "Pricing, exit, and location decisions of firms: Evidence on the role of debt and operating efficiency," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(2), pages 397-427, February.
    5. Ferrés, Daniel & Ormazabal, Gaizka & Povel, Paul & Sertsios, Giorgo, 2021. "Capital structure under collusion," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    6. Billett, Matthew T. & Esmer, Burcu & Yu, Miaomiao, 2018. "Creditor control and product-market competition," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 87-100.
    7. Grieser, William & Hadlock, Charles & LeSage, James & Zekhnini, Morad, 2022. "Network effects in corporate financial policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(1), pages 247-272.
    8. Arping, Stefan & Diaw, Khaled M., 2008. "Sunk costs, entry deterrence, and financial constraints," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 490-501, March.
    9. Jianjun Miao, 2005. "Optimal Capital Structure and Industry Dynamics," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(6), pages 2621-2659, December.
    10. Istaitieh, Abdulaziz & Rodriguez-Fernandez, Jose M., 2006. "Factor-product markets and firm's capital structure: A literature review," Review of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 49-75.
    11. Engelbert J. Dockner & Helmut Elsinger & Andrea Gaunersdorfer, 2018. "The Strategic Role of Dividends and Debt in Markets with Imperfect Competition," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 8(3), pages 601-619, September.
    12. Valta, Philip, 2012. "Competition and the cost of debt," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 105(3), pages 661-682.
    13. Campello, Murillo, 2006. "Debt financing: Does it boost or hurt firm performance in product markets?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 135-172, October.
    14. Cookson, J. Anthony, 2017. "Leverage and strategic preemption: Lessons from entry plans and incumbent investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 292-312.
    15. Friedrich, Benjamin U. & Zator, Michał, 2023. "Flexibility costs of debt: Danish exporters during the cartoon crisis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 148(2), pages 91-117.
    16. Federico Etro, 2010. "Endogenous market structures and the optimal financial structure," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 43(4), pages 1333-1352, November.
    17. Campello, Murillo, 2003. "Capital structure and product markets interactions: evidence from business cycles," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(3), pages 353-378, June.
    18. Povel, Paul & Raith, Michael, 2004. "Financial constraints and product market competition: ex ante vs. ex post incentives," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(7), pages 917-949, September.
    19. Rosellon Cifuentes, M.A., 1999. "Essays on financial policy, liquidation values and product markets," Other publications TiSEM 802f644e-3e93-4815-bf33-8, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    20. Khanna, Naveen & Schroder, Mark, 2010. "Optimal debt contracts and product market competition with exit and entry," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 145(1), pages 156-188, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Debt; Capacity; Product market; Imperfect competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:corfin:v:23:y:2013:i:c:p:332-344. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcorpfin .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.