IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/reveco/v85y2023icp533-558.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Agency costs of customer concentration

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Taeyeon
  • Kim, Hyun-Dong
  • Park, Kwangwoo

Abstract

We conjecture that managerial agency problems are aggravated in dependent suppliers with a few large customers, resulting in investors' lower assessment value to suppliers’ excess cash reserves. Using a sample of U.S. firms over the 1977–2016 period, we find that supplier firms with highly concentrated customers are more likely to have lower market value of excess cash. We further show that supplier firms with higher customer concentration provide greater CEO compensation, engage in more value-destroying mergers, and experience less forced CEO turnover. Our results add an agency view to the prevailing risk-based view of customer concentration in the existing literature.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Taeyeon & Kim, Hyun-Dong & Park, Kwangwoo, 2023. "Agency costs of customer concentration," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 533-558.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:reveco:v:85:y:2023:i:c:p:533-558
    DOI: 10.1016/j.iref.2023.01.025
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1059056023000333
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.iref.2023.01.025?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. Wang, Jin, 2012. "Do firms' relationships with principal customers/suppliers affect shareholders' income?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(4), pages 860-878.
    2. Rajan, Raghuram G. & Wulf, Julie, 2006. "Are perks purely managerial excess?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(1), pages 1-33, January.
    3. Huang, Henry He & Lobo, Gerald J. & Wang, Chong & Xie, Hong, 2016. "Customer concentration and corporate tax avoidance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 184-200.
    4. Kang, Jun-Koo & Liu, Wei-Lin & Yi, Sangho & Zhang, Le, 2015. "Monitoring role of customer firms in suppliers and its effect on supplier value: Evidence from block acquisitions of suppliers by customer firms," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 537-563.
    5. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W., 1989. "Management entrenchment : The case of manager-specific investments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 123-139, November.
    6. Bhattacharyya, Sugato & Nain, Amrita, 2011. "Horizontal acquisitions and buying power: A product market analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(1), pages 97-115, January.
    7. Jeffrey W. Allen & Gordon M. Phillips, 2000. "Corporate Equity Ownership, Strategic Alliances, and Product Market Relationships," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(6), pages 2791-2815, December.
    8. Randall A. Heron & Erik Lie, 2009. "What Fraction of Stock Option Grants to Top Executives Have Been Backdated or Manipulated?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 55(4), pages 513-525, April.
    9. Andrei Shleifer & Lawrence H. Summers, 1988. "Breach of Trust in Hostile Takeovers," NBER Chapters, in: Corporate Takeovers: Causes and Consequences, pages 33-68, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Stewart C. Myers & Raghuram G. Rajan, 1998. "The Paradox of Liquidity," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 113(3), pages 733-771.
    11. Hoi, Chun Keung(Stan) & Wu, Qiang & Zhang, Hao, 2019. "Does social capital mitigate agency problems? Evidence from Chief Executive Officer (CEO) compensation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(2), pages 498-519.
    12. Dittmar, Amy & Mahrt-Smith, Jan, 2007. "Corporate governance and the value of cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 599-634, March.
    13. Lian, Yili, 2017. "Financial distress and customer-supplier relationships," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 397-406.
    14. Itzkowitz, Jennifer, 2013. "Customers and cash: How relationships affect suppliers' cash holdings," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 159-180.
    15. Campello, Murillo & Gao, Janet, 2017. "Customer concentration and loan contract terms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 108-136.
    16. Chauvin, Keith W. & Shenoy, Catherine, 2001. "Stock price decreases prior to executive stock option grants," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 53-76, March.
    17. Erik Lie, 2005. "On the Timing of CEO Stock Option Awards," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 51(5), pages 802-812, May.
    18. Jensen, Michael C. & Ruback, Richard S., 1983. "The market for corporate control : The scientific evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 11(1-4), pages 5-50, April.
    19. Jianyun Tang & Mary Crossan & W. Glenn Rowe, 2011. "Dominant CEO, Deviant Strategy, and Extreme Performance: The Moderating Role of a Powerful Board," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(7), pages 1479-1503, November.
    20. Johnson, William C. & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Yi, Sangho, 2015. "The bonding hypothesis of takeover defenses: Evidence from IPO firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(2), pages 307-332.
    21. Seonghee Han & Vikram K. Nanda & Sabatino (Dino) Silveri, 2016. "CEO Power and Firm Performance under Pressure," Financial Management, Financial Management Association International, vol. 45(2), pages 369-400, May.
    22. Kim, Hyun-Dong & Kim, Taeyeon & Kim, Yura & Park, Kwangwoo, 2019. "Do long-term institutional investors promote corporate social responsibility activities?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 256-269.
    23. Kale, Jayant R. & Shahrur, Husayn, 2007. "Corporate capital structure and the characteristics of suppliers and customers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(2), pages 321-365, February.
    24. Chen, Tao & Harford, Jarrad & Lin, Chen, 2015. "Do analysts matter for governance? Evidence from natural experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 383-410.
    25. Michael Faulkender & Rong Wang, 2006. "Corporate Financial Policy and the Value of Cash," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 61(4), pages 1957-1990, August.
    26. Frésard, Laurent & Salva, Carolina, 2010. "The value of excess cash and corporate governance: Evidence from US cross-listings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 359-384, November.
    27. Laurent Fresard & Carolina Salva, 2010. "The value of excess cash and corporate governance: evidence from U.S. cross-listings," Post-Print hal-00537080, HAL.
    28. Grossman, Sanford J & Hart, Oliver D, 1986. "The Costs and Benefits of Ownership: A Theory of Vertical and Lateral Integration," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 691-719, August.
    29. Aboody, David & Kasznik, Ron, 2000. "CEO stock option awards and the timing of corporate voluntary disclosures," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 73-100, February.
    30. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
    31. Kolay, Madhuparna & Lemmon, Michael & Tashjian, Elizabeth, 2016. "Spreading the Misery? Sources of Bankruptcy Spillover in the Supply Chain," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(6), pages 1955-1990, December.
    32. Shleifer, Andrei & Vishny, Robert W, 1986. "Large Shareholders and Corporate Control," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(3), pages 461-488, June.
    33. Stuart L. Gillan & Jay C. Hartzell & Robert Parrino, 2009. "Explicit versus Implicit Contracts: Evidence from CEO Employment Agreements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1629-1655, August.
    34. Jensen, Michael C. & Meckling, William H., 1976. "Theory of the firm: Managerial behavior, agency costs and ownership structure," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 305-360, October.
    35. Yermack, David, 1997. "Good Timing: CEO Stock Option Awards and Company News Announcements," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(2), pages 449-476, June.
    36. Cen, Ling & Maydew, Edward L. & Zhang, Liandong & Zuo, Luo, 2017. "Customer–supplier relationships and corporate tax avoidance," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 377-394.
    37. Ronald W. Masulis & Cong Wang & Fei Xie, 2009. "Agency Problems at Dual‐Class Companies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 64(4), pages 1697-1727, August.
    38. M. P. Narayanan & H. Nejat Seyhun, 2008. "The Dating Game: Do Managers Designate Option Grant Dates to Increase their Compensation?," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 21(5), pages 1907-1945, September.
    39. Kee-Hong Bae & Jin Wang, 2015. "Why Do Firms in Customer–Supplier Relationships Hold More Cash?," International Review of Finance, International Review of Finance Ltd., vol. 15(4), pages 489-520, December.
    40. Klein, Benjamin & Leffler, Keith B, 1981. "The Role of Market Forces in Assuring Contractual Performance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 89(4), pages 615-641, August.
    41. Ronald W. Masulis & Cong Wang & Fei Xie, 2007. "Corporate Governance and Acquirer Returns," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 62(4), pages 1851-1889, August.
    42. Fee, C. Edward & Thomas, Shawn, 2004. "Sources of gains in horizontal mergers: evidence from customer, supplier, and rival firms," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(3), pages 423-460, December.
    43. Tim Loughran & Jay Ritter, 2004. "Why Has IPO Underpricing Changed Over Time?," Financial Management, Financial Management Association, vol. 33(3), Fall.
    44. Ward, Charles & Yin, Chao & Zeng, Yeqin, 2018. "Institutional investor monitoring motivation and the marginal value of cash," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 49-75.
    45. Drobetz, Wolfgang & Grüninger, Matthias C. & Hirschvogl, Simone, 2010. "Information asymmetry and the value of cash," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 2168-2184, September.
    46. Intintoli, Vincent J. & Serfling, Matthew & Shaikh, Sarah, 2017. "CEO Turnovers and Disruptions in Customer–Supplier Relationships," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 52(6), pages 2565-2610, December.
    47. Hwang, Hyoseok (David) & Kim, Hyun-Dong & Kim, Taeyeon, 2020. "The blind power: Power-led CEO overconfidence and M&A decision making," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    48. Titman, Sheridan & Wessels, Roberto, 1988. " The Determinants of Capital Structure Choice," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 43(1), pages 1-19, March.
    49. Shahrur, Husayn, 2005. "Industry structure and horizontal takeovers: Analysis of wealth effects on rivals, suppliers, and corporate customers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(1), pages 61-98, April.
    50. Klein, Benjamin & Crawford, Robert G & Alchian, Armen A, 1978. "Vertical Integration, Appropriable Rents, and the Competitive Contracting Process," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 21(2), pages 297-326, October.
    51. Fich, Eliezer M. & Cai, Jie & Tran, Anh L., 2011. "Stock option grants to target CEOs during private merger negotiations," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(2), pages 413-430, August.
    52. Dhaliwal, Dan & Judd, J. Scott & Serfling, Matthew & Shaikh, Sarah, 2016. "Customer concentration risk and the cost of equity capital," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 23-48.
    53. Lucian A. Bebchuk & Yaniv Grinstein & Urs Peyer, 2010. "Lucky CEOs and Lucky Directors," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 65(6), pages 2363-2401, December.
    54. Yaniv Grinstein & David Weinbaum & Nir Yehuda, 2017. "The Economic Consequences of Perk Disclosure," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(4), pages 1812-1842, December.
    55. Cai, Kelly & Zhu, Hui, 2020. "Customer-Supplier relationships and the cost of debt," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    56. Steven Crawford & Ying Huang & Ningzhong Li & Ziyun Yang, 2020. "Customer Concentration and Public Disclosure: Evidence from Management Earnings and Sales Forecasts†," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 37(1), pages 131-159, March.
    57. Campbell, T. Colin & Gallmeyer, Michael & Johnson, Shane A. & Rutherford, Jessica & Stanley, Brooke W., 2011. "CEO optimism and forced turnover," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(3), pages 695-712, September.
    58. Yermack, David, 2006. "Flights of fancy: Corporate jets, CEO perquisites, and inferior shareholder returns," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 211-242, April.
    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. Kim, Taeyeon & Kim, Hyun-Dong & Park, Kwangwoo, 2023. "Customer concentration and firm risk: The role of outside directors from a major customer," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(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. Dong, Yizhe & Li, Chang & Li, Haoyu, 2021. "Customer concentration and M&A performance," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    2. Kim, Taeyeon & Kim, Hyun-Dong & Park, Kwangwoo, 2023. "Customer concentration and firm risk: The role of outside directors from a major customer," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    3. Wang, Li & Wu, Yiqi & Chen, Yaxin & Dai, Yunhao, 2023. "Distance produces the fear of loss: Customer geographic proximity and corporate cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Shiang Liu & Mingming Qiu & Shiyi Zhang, 2022. "Customer Concentration and Corporate Real Estate Holdings," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 65(3), pages 492-523, October.
    5. Jandik, Tomas & Salikhova, Tatiana, 2023. "The effect of social connections on capital structure in supplier-customer relationships11We are grateful for the helpful comments from Jason Damm, Abhi Ganguly, Scott Hsu, Ankit Kalda, Wayne Lee, Pau," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    6. Ma, Xiaofang & Wang, Wenming & Wu, Jiangang & Zhang, Wenlan, 2020. "Corporate customer concentration and stock price crash risk," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 119(C).
    7. Chen, Tao & Harford, Jarrad & Lin, Chen, 2015. "Do analysts matter for governance? Evidence from natural experiments," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 383-410.
    8. Cao, Yue & Dong, Yizhe & Ma, Diandian & Sun, Li, 2021. "Customer concentration and corporate risk-taking," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    9. Chen, Jie & Su, Xunhua & Tian, Xuan & Xu, Bin, 2022. "Does customer-base structure influence managerial risk-taking incentives?," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 462-483.
    10. Chowdhury, Rajib & Doukas, John A. & Park, Jong Chool, 2021. "Stakeholder orientation and the value of cash holdings: Evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    11. Wen, Wen & Ke, Yun & Liu, Xuejiao, 2021. "Customer concentration and corporate social responsibility performance: Evidence from China," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C).
    12. Mabel D. Costa & Ahsan Habib, 2021. "Trade credit and cost stickiness," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 1139-1179, March.
    13. Ziqi Gao & Leye Li & Louise Yi Lu, 2021. "Social Capital and Managers’ Use of Corporate Resources," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 168(3), pages 593-613, January.
    14. Sertsios, Giorgo, 2020. "Corporate finance, industrial organization, and organizational economics," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    15. Obaid Ur Rehman & Xiaoxing Liu & Kai Wu & Junfeng Li, 2023. "Customer concentration, leverage adjustments, and firm value," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 63(2), pages 2035-2079, June.
    16. Agnes C. S. Cheng & Wenli Huang & Shaojun Zhang, 2020. "Major government customer and management earnings forecasts," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-20, December.
    17. Jarrad Harford & Robert Schonlau & Jared Stanfield, 2019. "Trade Relationships, Indirect Economic Links, and Mergers," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(7), pages 3085-3110, July.
    18. Louise Yi Lu & Greg Shailer & Yangxin Yu, 2017. "Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and the Value of Cash Holdings," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 729-753, October.
    19. Tingyong Zhong & Yimeng Zuo & Fangcheng Sun & Jeoung Yul Lee, 2020. "Customer Concentration, Economic Policy Uncertainty and Enterprise Sustainable Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-20, February.
    20. Croci, Ettore & Degl'Innocenti, Marta & Zhou, Si, 2021. "Large customer-supplier links and syndicate loan structure," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Customer concentration; Managerial agency costs; Value of excess cash; Relationship-specific investments;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General
    • 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

    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:reveco:v:85:y:2023:i:c:p:533-558. 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/inca/620165 .

    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.