IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijfss/v10y2022i3p55-d862789.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Working Capital Behavior of Firms during an Economic Downturn: An Analysis of the Financial Crisis Era

Author

Listed:
  • Erik Hofmann

    (Institute of Supply Chain Management, University of St. Gallen, 9000 St. Gallen, Switzerland)

  • Juuso Töyli

    (Operations and Supply Chain Management, University of Turku, 20500 Turku, Finland
    Department of Communications and Networking, Aalto University, 02150 Espoo, Finland)

  • Tomi Solakivi

    (Operations and Supply Chain Management, University of Turku, 20500 Turku, Finland)

Abstract

In times of crisis, cash and liquidity play an essential role. This paper analyzes the working capital measures over the course of a business cycle. We examine (1) how companies behave in economic downturns regarding their working capital components and (2) whether firms with higher financial constraints behave differently in economic downturns regarding their working capital components. The analyses were conducted with descriptive statistics and generalized linear mixed-effects modeling. Our dataset consists of 2111 stock-listed firms and 10,555 observations spread over the period of five years during the financial crisis era. The findings indicate that days sales outstanding and shorter days inventory held are related to better financial performance while days payable outstanding had no observable effect. Furthermore, financially constrained firms have shorter days sales outstanding than average firms. In economic downturns, firms seem to reduce both working capital and fixed investments to asset ratios. The financially constrained firms pushed down their fixed investments ratio more aggressively than average firms while, in contrast, the financially strongest firms pushed down the working capital to asset ratio in comparison to average firms. Interestingly, neither the cash conversion cycle, days payable outstanding, nor company performance or fixed investments to asset ratios fully returned to the pre-shock level. The behavior of non-financially constrained firms, which also perform better, indicates a stronger supply chain orientation than that of average firms. This might indicate that the supply chain-oriented view of working capital management could provide a more favorable and resilient alternative to the prevailing self-orientation.

Suggested Citation

  • Erik Hofmann & Juuso Töyli & Tomi Solakivi, 2022. "Working Capital Behavior of Firms during an Economic Downturn: An Analysis of the Financial Crisis Era," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijfss:v:10:y:2022:i:3:p:55-:d:862789
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/10/3/55/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7072/10/3/55/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ding, Sai & Guariglia, Alessandra & Knight, John, 2013. "Investment and financing constraints in China: Does working capital management make a difference?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 1490-1507.
    2. Engblom, Janne & Solakivi, Tomi & Töyli, Juuso & Ojala, Lauri, 2012. "Multiple-method analysis of logistics costs," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 137(1), pages 29-35.
    3. Claudio Borio, 2020. "The Covid-19 economic crisis: dangerously unique," Business Economics, Palgrave Macmillan;National Association for Business Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 181-190, October.
    4. Seifert, Daniel & Seifert, Ralf W. & Protopappa-Sieke, Margarita, 2013. "A review of trade credit literature: Opportunities for research in operations," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 231(2), pages 245-256.
    5. Tiago Gonçalves & Cristina Gaio & Frederico Robles, 2018. "The impact of Working Capital Management on firm profitability in different economic cycles: Evidence from the United Kingdom," Economics and Business Letters, Oviedo University Press, vol. 7(2), pages 70-75.
    6. Tarkom, Augustine, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 exposure on working capital management: The moderating effect of investment opportunities and government incentives," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 47(PB).
    7. Armen Hovakimian & Gayané Hovakimian, 2009. "Cash Flow Sensitivity of Investment," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 15(1), pages 47-65, January.
    8. Gian Luca Clementi & Hugo A. Hopenhayn, 2006. "A Theory of Financing Constraints and Firm Dynamics," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 121(1), pages 229-265.
    9. Lorié, John & Ciobica, Iulian, 2021. "COVID-19 government support reinforces zombification," Journal of Risk Management in Financial Institutions, Henry Stewart Publications, vol. 14(4), pages 345-354, September.
    10. Steven M. Fazzari & R. Glenn Hubbard & Bruce C. Petersen, 1988. "Financing Constraints and Corporate Investment," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 19(1), pages 141-206.
    11. Robert E. Carpenter & Steven M. Fazzari & Bruce C. Petersen, 1994. "Inventory (Dis)Investment, Internal Finance Fluctuations, and the Business Cycle," Macroeconomics 9401001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Peng, Juan & Zhou, Zhili, 2019. "Working capital optimization in a supply chain perspective," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 277(3), pages 846-856.
    13. Gayané Hovakimian, 2009. "Determinants of Investment Cash Flow Sensitivity," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 38(1), pages 161-183, March.
    14. Pan Theo Grosse-Ruyken & Stephan M. Wagner & Ruben Jonke, 2011. "What is the right cash conversion cycle for your supply chain?," International Journal of Services and Operations Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 10(1), pages 13-29.
    15. Chen, Tsung-Kang & Liao, Hsien-Hsing & Kuo, Hui-Ju, 2013. "Internal liquidity risk, financial bullwhip effects, and corporate bond yield spreads: Supply chain perspectives," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 37(7), pages 2434-2456.
    16. Robert E. Carpenter & Steven M. Fazzari & Bruce C. Petersen, 1994. "Inventory Investment, Internal-Finance Fluctuation, and the Business Cycle," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 25(2), pages 75-138.
    17. Lee, Chang Hwan & Rhee, Byong-Duk, 2011. "Trade credit for supply chain coordination," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 214(1), pages 136-146, 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. Al-Gamrh, Bakr & Rasul, Tareq, 2024. "Recession-proof marketing? Unraveling the impact of advertising efficiency on stock volatility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).

    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. González, Andrés & Teräsvirta, Timo & van Dijk, Dick & Yang, Yukai, 2005. "Panel Smooth Transition Regression Models," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 604, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 11 Oct 2017.
    2. Mulier, Klaas & Schoors, Koen & Merlevede, Bruno, 2016. "Investment-cash flow sensitivity and financial constraints: Evidence from unquoted European SMEs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 182-197.
    3. 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.
    4. Voutsinas, Konstantinos & Werner, Richard A., 2011. "Credit supply and corporate capital structure: Evidence from Japan," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 20(5), pages 320-334.
    5. Yang, Junhong & Guariglia, Alessandra & Peng, Yuchao & Shi, Yukun, 2022. "Inventory investment and the choice of financing: Does financial development play a role?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Milos Markovic & Michael A. Stemmer, 2017. "Firm Growth Dynamics and Financial Constraints: Evidence from Serbian Firms," Documents de travail du Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne 17012, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne (Paris 1), Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne.
    7. Hoffmann, Florian & Pfeil, Sebastian, 2021. "Dynamic multitasking and managerial investment incentives," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(2), pages 954-974.
    8. repec:aly:journl:202052 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. Théo Nicolas, 2022. "Short-term financial constraints and SMEs’ investment decision: evidence from the working capital channel," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1885-1914, April.
    10. Vijayakumaran, Ratnam, 2021. "Impact of managerial ownership on investment and liquidity constraints: Evidence from Chinese listed companies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    11. Ding, Sai & Kim, Minjoo & Zhang, Xiao, 2018. "Do firms care about investment opportunities? Evidence from China," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 214-237.
    12. Nufazil Altaf & Farooq Ahmad Shah, 2018. "Investment and financial constraints in Indian firms: Does working capital smoothen fixed investment?," DECISION: Official Journal of the Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Springer;Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, vol. 45(1), pages 43-58, March.
    13. Dbouk, Wassim & Moussawi-Haidar, Lama & Jaber, Mohamad Y., 2020. "The effect of economic uncertainty on inventory and working capital for manufacturing firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    14. Mansour, Walid, 2014. "Information asymmetry and financing constraints in GCC," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 11(C), pages 19-29.
    15. Restrepo, Natalia & Uribe, Jorge M., 2023. "Cash flow investment, external funding and the energy transition: Evidence from large US energy firms," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    16. Xin Qu & Majella Percy & Fang Hu & Jenny Stewart, 2022. "Can CEO equity‐based compensation limit investment‐related agency problems?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(2), pages 2579-2614, June.
    17. Sai Ding & Alessandra Guariglia & John Knight & Junhong Yang, 2021. "Negative Investment in China: Financing Constraints and Restructuring versus Growth," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 69(4), pages 1411-1449.
    18. Panagiotidis, Theodore & Printzis, Panagiotis, 2020. "What is the investment loss due to uncertainty?," Global Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    19. Jiří Schwarz & Martin Pospíšil, 2018. "Bankruptcy, Investment, and Financial Constraints: Evidence from the Czech Republic," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 99-121, March.
    20. Michael O'Connor Keefe & James Tate & Henk Berkman, 2013. "Is the relationship between investment and conditional cash flow volatility ambiguous, asymmetric or both?," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 53(4), pages 913-947, December.
    21. Lozano, M. Belén & Yaman, Serhat, 2020. "The determinants of cash flow sensitivity of cash: The family ownership effect," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).

    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:gam:jijfss:v:10:y:2022:i:3:p:55-:d:862789. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.