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Does ownership structure affect trade credit policy in small- and medium-sized firms? Evidence from China

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  • Pengxiang Zhai
  • Rufei Ma

Abstract

This paper examines whether and how ownership structure affects the trade credit policies in small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs) using a sample obtained from a survey of Chinese enterprises. Specifically, we examine how ownership concentration affects SMEs’ use of trade credit through influencing the availability of bank credit. We also examine whether the ownership of the ultimate controller influences the effect of ownership structure on trade credit. The results show that there is a significant negative relation between bank credit and trade credit when most of the firms’ shares are controlled by a dominant shareholder, indicating that concentrated ownership may lower firms’ ability to access bank credit, and SMEs use trade credit as a substitute for unavailable bank credit. The results also show that the effect of ownership concentration on the aforementioned relation is significant in private and state-controlled SMEs but not in foreign-controlled SMEs. Overall, our results suggest that ownership structure plays an important role in determining SMEs’ trade credit policies. ****** Resumen Este artículo analiza cómo afecta la estructura de propiedad las políticas de crédito comercial en las pequenas y medianas empresas (PYME) por medio de una muestra que se ha obtenido de una encuesta a empresas chinas. Específicamente se examina cómo la concentración de la propiedad afecta al uso del crédito comercial de las PYME al influir en la disponibilidad del crédito bancario. Asimismo, se estudia si la propiedad del controlador último influye en el efecto de la estructura de la propiedad en el crédito comercial. Los resultados revelan que existe una relación negativa significativa entre el crédito bancario y el crédito comercial cuando la mayoría de las acciones de la empresa son controladas por un accionista mayoritario, lo que indica que la propiedad concentrada podría reducir la capacidad de las empresas para acceder a créditos bancarios, y que las PYME utilizan el crédito comercial como sustituto del crédito bancario no disponible. Asimismo, se observa que el efecto de la concentración de la propiedad en esta relación es relevante en las PYME privadas y estatales, pero no en las PYME de control externo. En conjunto, los resultados sugieren que la estructura de propiedad desempena un papel importante para determinar las políticas de crédito comercial de las PYME.

Suggested Citation

  • Pengxiang Zhai & Rufei Ma, 2017. "Does ownership structure affect trade credit policy in small- and medium-sized firms? Evidence from China," Revista ESPE - Ensayos Sobre Política Económica, Banco de la República, vol. 35(83), pages 130-138, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000107:015482
    DOI: 10.1016/j.espe.2017.01.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ownership structure; Bank credit; Trade credit; Substitution;
    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
    • G34 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Mergers; Acquisitions; Restructuring; Corporate Governance
    • M21 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Economics - - - Business Economics

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