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Working capital management: evidence from Norway

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  • Hakim Lyngstadaas
  • Terje Berg

Abstract

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to provide empirical evidence of whether working capital management (WCM) has an effect on the profitability of small- and medium-sized Norwegian firms. Design/methodology/approach - – The data comprise 21,075 Norwegian small- and medium-sized enterprises and 84,300 observations made between 2010 and 2013. Panel data regressions were applied with fixed effects and a two-stage least squares analysis was employed to control for endogeneity. Findings - – The results indicate that reducing cash conversion cycle will increase profitability. Even though endogeneity may exist, this does not affect the results from the previous analysis. Similar results are also obtained when industry-specific effects are controlled for, supporting the robustness of the results. The relevance of quadratic dependencies of the profitability on independent variables was also identified and suggests a decreasing trend of return on assets with increasing values of the WCM’s characteristic variables. Research limitations/implications - – Drawing on similar studies, this study confirms that WCM is relevant for firms’ profitability. Practical implications - – The practice of aggressive working capital policy in Norwegian firms is confirmed by the results of this study. Originality/value - – This study contributes to the current research on the relationship between WCM and profitability by using a large dataset to add further robustness to results, and thus verifying whether or not the results in previous studies may be confirmed or not. Moreover, this is the first published study about this relationship among Norwegian firms in different industries, thus filling a gap in similar research conducted in other European countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Hakim Lyngstadaas & Terje Berg, 2016. "Working capital management: evidence from Norway," International Journal of Managerial Finance, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 12(3), pages 295-313, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:eme:ijmfpp:v:12:y:2016:i:3:p:295-313
    DOI: 10.1108/IJMF-01-2016-0012
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Nasser A. Alsulayhim, 2019. "The Relationship between Working Capital Management and Profitability," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(8), pages 142-152, August.
    2. Minhas Akbar & Ahsan Akbar & Muhammad Umar Draz, 2021. "Global Financial Crisis, Working Capital Management, and Firm Performance: Evidence From an Islamic Market Index," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(2), pages 21582440211, May.
    3. Ali I. El Saleh & Doureige J. Jurdi, 2021. "Stock performance under alternative Shariah screening methods: Evidence from Australia," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(3), pages 4339-4388, September.
    4. Dina Korent, 2021. "Target adjustment model and new working capital management performance measure: Evidence from Croatia," Zbornik radova Ekonomskog fakulteta u Rijeci/Proceedings of Rijeka Faculty of Economics, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Economics and Business, vol. 39(1), pages 135-162.
    5. Najib H. S Farhan & Faozi A. Almaqtari & Ebrahim Mohammed Al-Matari & Nabil Ahmed M. SENAN & Waleed M. Alahdal & Saddam A. Hazaea, 2021. "Working Capital Management Policies in Indian Listed Firms: A State-Wise Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(8), pages 1-25, April.
    6. Burney, Robert B. & James, Hui Liang & Wang, Hongxia, 2021. "Working capital management and CEO age," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    7. Korneta Piotr, 2018. "Net promoter score, growth, and profitability of transportation companies," International Journal of Management and Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, vol. 54(2), pages 136-148, June.
    8. Wetzel, Philipp & Hofmann, Erik, 2019. "Supply chain finance, financial constraints and corporate performance: An explorative network analysis and future research agenda," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 216(C), pages 364-383.
    9. Rezart Demiraj & Suzan Dsouza & Mohammad Abiad, 2022. "Working Capital Management Impact on Profitability: Pre-Pandemic and Pandemic Evidence from the European Automotive Industry," Risks, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-21, December.
    10. Dalci, Ilhan & Ozyapici, Hasan, 2018. "Working capital management policy in health care: The effect of leverage," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(11), pages 1266-1272.
    11. Hakim Lyngstadaas, 2020. "Packages or systems? Working capital management and financial performance among listed U.S. manufacturing firms," Journal of Management Control: Zeitschrift für Planung und Unternehmenssteuerung, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 403-450, December.
    12. Muhammad Azeem Naz & Rizwan Ali & Ramiz Ur Rehman & Collins G. Ntim, 2022. "Corporate governance, working capital management, and firm performance: Some new insights from agency theory," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1448-1461, July.

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