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Real Flexibility and Financial Structure: An Empirical Analysis

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  • Peter MacKay

Abstract

I examine the empirical relation between real flexibility and financial structure. I test whether real flexibility increases debt capacity by lowering default risk and making assets more marketable or decreases debt capacity by facilitating risk shifting and asset substitution. I measure real flexibility as the sensitivity of marginal production and investment decisions to variations in the economic environment. I find that financial leverage is negatively related to production flexibility but positively related to investment flexibility. This split in results suggests that although asset substitution facilitated by investment flexibility can be prevented contractually, risk shifting facilitated by production flexibility is intractable. Copyright 2003, Oxford University Press.

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  • Peter MacKay, 2003. "Real Flexibility and Financial Structure: An Empirical Analysis," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 16(4), pages 1131-1165.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:rfinst:v:16:y:2003:i:4:p:1131-1165
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/rfs/hhg022
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    Cited by:

    1. Mitchell A. Petersen, 2009. "Estimating Standard Errors in Finance Panel Data Sets: Comparing Approaches," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 22(1), pages 435-480, January.
    2. D’Acunto, Francesco & Liu, Ryan & Pflueger, Carolin & Weber, Michael, 2018. "Flexible prices and leverage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(1), pages 46-68.
    3. Bhanot, Karan & Mello, Antonio S., 2006. "Should corporate debt include a rating trigger?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 69-98, January.
    4. Ho, Tuan & Kim, Kirak & Li, Yang & Xu, Fangming, 2023. "Does real flexibility help firms navigate the COVID-19 pandemic?," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(4).
    5. Bhuyan, Md Nazmul Hasan & Okafor, Collins E. & Cho, Eunho, 2022. "Do friendly boards impact the value of real options?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    6. Söhnke M. Bartram, 2017. "Corporate Postretirement Benefit Plans and Real Investment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(2), pages 355-383, February.
    7. Ge, Jianjun & Li, Donghui & Ni, Yingzhao & Yang, Shijie, 2022. "Inflexibility and corporate innovation: Cross-country evidence," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    8. Ikonnikova, Svetlana A. & del Carpio Neyra, Victor & Berdysheva, Sofia, 2022. "Investment choices and production dynamics: The role of price expectations, financial deficit, and production constraints," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    9. Lifeng Gu & Dirk Hackbarth & Tim Johnson, 2018. "Inflexibility and Stock Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 31(1), pages 278-321.
    10. Dan A. Iancu & Nikolaos Trichakis & Gerry Tsoukalas, 2017. "Is Operating Flexibility Harmful Under Debt?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 63(6), pages 1730-1761, June.
    11. Peter Ritchken & Qi Wu, 2021. "Capacity Investment, Production Flexibility, and Capital Structure," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(12), pages 4593-4613, December.
    12. Boyle, Glenn W. & Guthrie, Graeme A., 2006. "Hedging the value of waiting," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 1245-1267, April.
    13. Hajda, Jakub & Nikolov, Boris, 2022. "Product market strategy and corporate policies," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(3), pages 932-964.
    14. Antonio Falato & Jae W. Sim, 2014. "Why Do Innovative Firms Hold So Much Cash? Evidence from Changes in State R&D Tax Credits," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2014-72, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    15. D’Acunto, Francesco & Liu, Ryan & Pflueger, Carolin & Weber, Michael, 2018. "Flexible prices and leverage," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 129(1), pages 46-68.
    16. Onur Boyabatlı & L. Beril Toktay, 2011. "Stochastic Capacity Investment and Flexible vs. Dedicated Technology Choice in Imperfect Capital Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 57(12), pages 2163-2179, December.
    17. Childs, Paul D. & Mauer, David C. & Ott, Steven H., 2005. "Interactions of corporate financing and investment decisions: The effects of agency conflicts," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(3), pages 667-690, June.
    18. Jiri Chod & Jianer Zhou, 2014. "Resource Flexibility and Capital Structure," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(3), pages 708-729, March.
    19. Vega-Gutierrez, Pedro Luis & López-Iturriaga, Félix J. & Rodriguez-Sanz, Juan Antonio, 2021. "Labour market conditions and the corporate financing decision: A European analysis," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    20. Aabo, Tom & Pantzalis, Christos & Park, Jung Chul, 2016. "Multinationality as real option facilitator — Illusion or reality?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 1-17.
    21. Chi, Wuchun & Liu, Chiawen & Wang, Taychang, 2009. "What affects accounting conservatism: A corporate governance perspective," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 47-59.
    22. Jakub Hajda, 2019. "Product Market Strategy and Corporate Policies," 2019 Papers pha1309, Job Market Papers.
    23. Mili, Medhi & Sahut, Jean-Michel & Teulon, Frédéric, 2018. "Modeling recovery rates of corporate defaulted bonds in developed and developing countries," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 28-44.
    24. Agliardi, Elettra & Koussis, Nicos, 2011. "Optimal capital structure and investment options in finite horizon," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 8(1), pages 28-36, March.

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