IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/hig/fsight/v17y2023i1p18-32.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The New Strategy of High-Tech Companies Hidden Sources of Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Maria Kokoreva

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Russia))

  • Anastasia Stepanova

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Russia))

  • Kirill Povkh

    (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Russia))

Abstract

The recent increase in the share of zero-leverage firms is most pronounced in the Software and Services, Hardware Equipment, and Pharmaceutical and Biotechnical industries. The reasons for these industries conservative debt policies are not fully disclosed. How companies in technological sectors manage to perform well attracting no debt and loosing debt tax shield benefits is a mystery. This study aims to determine why high-tech firms are less likely to have debt in the capital structure. On the basis of a sample of US-based firms from the RUSSELL 3000 index for 12 years, we show the factors leading to a zero-debt structure. After dividing the sample into high-tech and non-high-tech subsamples, we demonstrate the gap between zero-debt motives for technological and traditional sectors. We show that the common determinants of corporate structure cannot fully explain why high-tech firms choose a zero-debt policy. Testing the possible motives of debt financing avoidance, we find that high-tech firms are more financially constrained than non-high-tech firms. We further show that unconstrained high-tech firms may avoid debt to maintain their financial flexibility. On top of that, managerial entrenchment also adds to the zero-leverage choice of high-tech companies. The study results are helpful for executive management teams and investors since they shed light on the specific style of financing choice for technological firms.

Suggested Citation

  • Maria Kokoreva & Anastasia Stepanova & Kirill Povkh, 2023. "The New Strategy of High-Tech Companies Hidden Sources of Growth," Foresight and STI Governance (Foresight-Russia till No. 3/2015), National Research University Higher School of Economics, vol. 17(1), pages 18-32.
    • Handle: RePEc:hig:fsight:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:18-32
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://foresight-journal.hse.ru/data/2023/04/10/2024406114/2-Stepanova-18-32.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ammara Yasmin & Abdul Rashid, 2019. "On the Mystery of Financial Conservatism: Insights from Pakistan," Emerging Markets Finance and Trade, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(12), pages 2904-2927, September.
    2. Boone, Audra L. & Casares Field, Laura & Karpoff, Jonathan M. & Raheja, Charu G., 2007. "The determinants of corporate board size and composition: An empirical analysis," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 66-101, July.
    3. Philippe Aghion & Stephen Bond & Alexander Klemm & Ioana Marinescu, 2004. "Technology and Financial Structure: Are Innovative Firms Different?," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 277-288, 04/05.
    4. Devos, Erik & Dhillon, Upinder & Jagannathan, Murali & Krishnamurthy, Srinivasan, 2012. "Why are firms unlevered?," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 664-682.
    5. Bessler, Wolfgang & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Haller, Rebekka & Meier, Iwan, 2013. "The international zero-leverage phenomenon," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 196-221.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Maria Kokoreva & Anastasia Stepanova & Kirill Povk, 2017. "Could High-Tech Companies Learn from Others While Choosing Capital Structure?," HSE Working papers WP BRP 62/FE/2017, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    2. Uz Zaman, Qamar & Ehsan, Sadaf & Hassan, Mohammad Kabir & Javed, Muzhar & Ul Hassan, Syed Iftikhar, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Zero Leverage," Jurnal Ekonomi Malaysia, Faculty of Economics and Business, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, vol. 56(1), pages 33-46.
    3. Saona, Paolo & Vallelado, Eleuterio & San Martín, Pablo, 2020. "Debt, or not debt, that is the question: A Shakespearean question to a corporate decision," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 378-392.
    4. Saona, Paolo & San-Martin, Pablo & Vallelado, Eleuterio, 2024. "The zero-debt puzzle in BRICS countries: Disentangling the financial flexibility and financial constraints hypotheses," Emerging Markets Review, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    5. Attaoui, Sami & Cao, Wenbin & Duan, Xiaoman & Liu, Hening, 2021. "Optimal capital structure, ambiguity aversion, and leverage puzzles," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
    6. Armanious, Amir & Zhao, Ruoyun, 2024. "Stock liquidity effect on leverage: The role of debt security, financial constraint, and risk around the global financial crisis and Covid-19 pandemic," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    7. Khoo, Joye & Durand, Robert B., 2017. "Japanese corporate leverage during the Lost Decades," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 46(PA), pages 94-108.
    8. Jiang, Wenwen & Kang, Jangkoo & Kim, Hwa-Sung, 2024. "Is the zero-leverage policy value-enhancing?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 176-189.
    9. Michael Espindola Araki & Henrique Castro Martins, 2022. "Integrating uncertainty and governance into a capital structure puzzle: can risk-taking and rule-taking explain zero-leverage firms?," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(6), pages 1979-2034, August.
    10. Morais, Flávio & Serrasqueiro, Zélia & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S., 2020. "The zero-leverage phenomenon: A bivariate probit with partial observability approach," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    11. Bigelli, Marco & Martín-Ugedo, Juan Francisco & Sánchez-Vidal, F. Javier, 2014. "Financial conservatism of private firms," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 67(11), pages 2419-2427.
    12. Chipeta, Chimwemwe & Aftab, Nadeem & Machokoto, Michael, 2021. "The implications of financial conservatism for African firms," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    13. Sardo, Filipe & Serrasqueiro, Zélia & Armada, Manuel Rocha, 2024. "Is the zero-leverage policy a persistent phenomenon? Evidence from Portuguese SMEs," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    14. Xiaoyi Li & Yung-Ming Shiu, 2021. "Reinsurance, debt capacity and financial flexibility," The Geneva Papers on Risk and Insurance - Issues and Practice, Palgrave Macmillan;The Geneva Association, vol. 46(4), pages 664-687, October.
    15. Choi, Young Mok & Park, Kunsu, 2022. "Zero-leverage policy and stock price crash risk: Evidence from Korea," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    16. Machokoto, Michael & Chipeta, Chimwemwe & Aftab, Nadeem & Areneke, Geofry, 2021. "The financial conservatism of firms in emerging economies," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 58(C).
    17. Hamza Nidaazzi & Hind Hourmat Allah, 2024. "Financial Conservatism in Family Businesses: A Double-edged Sword [Conservatisme Financier des Entreprises Familiales : un Biais à Double Tranchant]," Post-Print hal-04518830, HAL.
    18. Andrea Mina & Henry Lahr, 2018. "The pecking order of innovation finance," LEM Papers Series 2018/31, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    19. Morais, Flávio & Serrasqueiro, Zélia & Ramalho, Joaquim J.S., 2022. "Capital structure speed of adjustment heterogeneity across zero leverage and leveraged European firms," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    20. Katsutoshi Shimizu & Kim Cuong Ly & Weihan Cui, 2018. "Why do firms choose negative net debt policy?," Working Papers 2018-32, Swansea University, School of Management.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    capital structure; leverage; financial flexibility; financial constraint; zero-leverage; zero debt; high-tech firm; managerial entrenchment;
    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

    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:hig:fsight:v:17:y:2023:i:1:p:18-32. 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: Nataliya Gavrilicheva or Mikhail Salazkin (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/hsecoru.html .

    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.