IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/unm/umamet/2012013.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Corporate governance and cash policies of multinational corporations

Author

Listed:
  • Beuselinck, C.
  • Deloof, M.
  • Vanstraelen, A.

    (Accounting & Information Management)

Abstract

This study investigates cash policies of multinational corporations (MNCs) for a large sample of European MNCs and their subsidiaries in the period 1998-2004. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that cash holdings depend on a trade-off between the superior knowledge of the subsidiary over headquarters and the agency costs of discretionary behavior by the subsidiary’s management. We find that foreign subsidiaries hold more cash than domestic subsidiaries, although geographical distance from headquarters does not seem to matter. Horizontal subsidiaries hold more cash than vertical subsidiaries. Furthermore, we find that subsidiaries hold more cash if they are located in a country with better law enforcement and lower corruption. This result is consistent with the argument that better corporate governance in the subsidiary country reduces the risk of expropriation by the subsidiary management. Finally, the availability of external finance in the subsidiary country reduces the level of subsidiary cash holdings.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Beuselinck, C. & Deloof, M. & Vanstraelen, A., 2012. "Corporate governance and cash policies of multinational corporations," Research Memorandum 013, Maastricht University, Maastricht Research School of Economics of Technology and Organization (METEOR).
    • Handle: RePEc:unm:umamet:2012013
    DOI: 10.26481/umamet.2012013
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/ws/files/654451/guid-ac1fda76-a0f2-445e-a01d-8111d0ade1ce-ASSET1.0.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.26481/umamet.2012013?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
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hans Degryse & Steven Ongena, 2005. "Distance, Lending Relationships, and Competition," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(1), pages 231-266, February.
    2. Marc Deloof, 2001. "Belgian Intragroup Relations and the Determinants of Corporate Liquid Reserves," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 7(3), pages 375-392, September.
    3. Stein, Jeremy C, 1997. "Internal Capital Markets and the Competition for Corporate Resources," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(1), pages 111-133, March.
    4. Dittmar, Amy & Mahrt-Smith, Jan & Servaes, Henri, 2003. "International Corporate Governance and Corporate Cash Holdings," Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(1), pages 111-133, March.
    5. Gupta, Anil K. & Govindarajan, V., 1994. "Organizing for knowledge flows within MNCs," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 443-457, December.
    6. La Porta, Rafael & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer & Robert W. Vishny, 1997. "Legal Determinants of External Finance," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 52(3), pages 1131-1150, July.
    7. 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.
    8. Jensen, Michael C, 1986. "Agency Costs of Free Cash Flow, Corporate Finance, and Takeovers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(2), pages 323-329, May.
    9. Ivalina Kalcheva & Karl V. Lins, 2007. "International Evidence on Cash Holdings and Expected Managerial Agency Problems," Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 20(4), pages 1087-1112.
    10. Uysal, Vahap B. & Kedia, Simi & Panchapagesan, Venkatesh, 2008. "Geography and acquirer returns," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 256-275, April.
    11. repec:ner:ucllon:http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/17678/ is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Opler, Tim & Pinkowitz, Lee & Stulz, Rene & Williamson, Rohan, 1999. "The determinants and implications of corporate cash holdings," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(1), pages 3-46, April.
    13. 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.
    14. B R Baliga & Alfred M Jaeger, 1984. "Multinational Corporations: Control Systems and Delegation Issues," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 15(2), pages 25-40, June.
    15. Huizinga, Harry & Laeven, Luc & Nicodeme, Gaetan, 2008. "Capital structure and international debt shifting," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1), pages 80-118, April.
    16. Robert H. Gertner & David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 1994. "Internal versus External Capital Markets," NBER Working Papers 4776, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Hans Degryse & Nancy Masschelein & Janet Mitchell, 2004. "SMEs and Bank Lending Relationships: the Impact of Mergers," Working Paper Research 46, National Bank of Belgium.
    18. Nitin Nohria & Sumantra Ghoshal, 1994. "Differentiated fit and shared values: Alternatives for managing headquarters‐subsidiary relations," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(6), pages 491-502, July.
    19. Robert H. Gertner & David S. Scharfstein & Jeremy C. Stein, 1994. "Internal versus External Capital Markets," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 109(4), pages 1211-1230.
    20. 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.
    21. Colin Mayer & Wendy Carlin, 2008. "Multinational Ownership and Subsidiary Investment," Economics Series Working Papers 2008fe05, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    22. Aghion, Philippe & Tirole, Jean, 1997. "Formal and Real Authority in Organizations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(1), pages 1-29, February.
    23. Islam, Saiyid S. & Mozumdar, Abon, 2007. "Financial market development and the importance of internal cash: Evidence from international data," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 641-658, March.
    24. Jarrad Harford & Sattar A. Mansi & William F. Maxwell, 2012. "Corporate Governance and Firm Cash Holdings in the U.S," Springer Books, in: Sabri Boubaker & Bang Dang Nguyen & Duc Khuong Nguyen (ed.), Corporate Governance, edition 127, pages 107-138, Springer.
    25. D'Mello, Ranjan & Krishnaswami, Sudha & Larkin, Patrick J., 2008. "Determinants of corporate cash holdings: Evidence from spin-offs," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 32(7), pages 1209-1220, July.
    26. Desai, Mihir A. & Foley, C. Fritz & Hines, James Jr., 2004. "The costs of shared ownership: Evidence from international joint ventures," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(2), pages 323-374, August.
    27. Myers, Stewart C., 1977. "Determinants of corporate borrowing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 147-175, November.
    28. Sumantra Ghoshal & Christopher A Bartlett, 1988. "Creation, Adoption and Diffusion of Innovations by Subsidiaries of Multinational Corporations," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 19(3), pages 365-388, September.
    29. Mihir A. Desai & C. Fritz Foley & James R. Hines, 2004. "A Multinational Perspective on Capital Structure Choice and Internal Capital Markets," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 59(6), pages 2451-2487, December.
    30. Fritz Foley, C. & Hartzell, Jay C. & Titman, Sheridan & Twite, Garry, 2007. "Why do firms hold so much cash? A tax-based explanation," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(3), pages 579-607, December.
    31. Christopher J. Malloy, 2005. "The Geography of Equity Analysis," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(2), pages 719-755, April.
    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. Amess, Kevin & Banerji, Sanjay & Lampousis, Athanasios, 2015. "Corporate cash holdings: Causes and consequences," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 421-433.
    2. Rosy Locorotondo & Nico Dewaelheyns & Cynthia Hulle, 2015. "Affiliates’ Bank Debt Policy: Does Parent Firm Nationality Matter?," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(5-6), pages 747-776, June.
    3. Andres Almazan & Adolfo de Motta & Sheridan Titman & Vahap Uysal, 2007. "Financial Structure, Liquidity, and Firm Locations," NBER Working Papers 13660, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Bigelli, Marco & Sánchez-Vidal, Javier, 2012. "Cash holdings in private firms," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 26-35.
    5. Park, SeHyun, 2022. "Liquid asset sheltering, or cost of capital? The effect of political corruption on corporate cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    6. Alves, Paulo, 2018. "Cash holdings around the world: Financial crisis, culture and shareholder rights," MPRA Paper 89861, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2018.
    7. Jan Felix Weidemann, 2018. "A state-of-the-art review of corporate cash holding research," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 88(6), pages 765-797, August.
    8. Mohamed Arouri & Guillaume Pijourlet, 2017. "CSR Performance and the Value of Cash Holdings: International Evidence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 140(2), pages 263-284, January.
    9. Boubaker, Sabri & Derouiche, Imen & Lasfer, Meziane, 2015. "Geographic location, excess control rights, and cash holdings," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 24-37.
    10. Denis, David J., 2011. "Financial flexibility and corporate liquidity," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 667-674, June.
    11. Lin, Tsui-Jung & Tsai, Han-Fang & Imamah, Nur & Hung, Jung-Hua, 2016. "Does the identity of multiple large shareholders affect the value of excess cash? Evidence from China," Pacific-Basin Finance Journal, Elsevier, vol. 40(PA), pages 173-190.
    12. Ahrends, Meike & Drobetz, Wolfgang & Puhan, Tatjana Xenia, 2018. "Cyclicality of growth opportunities and the value of cash holdings," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 74-96.
    13. Paulo, Alves, 2018. "Abnormal retained earnings around the world," Journal of Multinational Financial Management, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 63-74.
    14. Najah Attig & Sadok El Ghoul & Omrane Guedhami & Sorin Rizeanu, 2013. "The governance role of multiple large shareholders: evidence from the valuation of cash holdings," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 17(2), pages 419-451, May.
    15. Domenico Rocco Cambrea & Andrea Calabrò & Maurizio La Rocca & Francesco Paolone, 2022. "The impact of boards of directors’ characteristics on cash holdings in uncertain times," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 26(1), pages 189-221, March.
    16. Hsuan-Chu Lin & She-Chih Chiu, 2017. "Tradeoff on corporate cash holdings: a theoretical and empirical analysis," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 727-763, October.
    17. Audrey Wenhsin Hsu & Sophia Hsintsai Liu, 2018. "Parent-subsidiary investment layers and the value of corporate cash holdings," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 51(3), pages 651-681, October.
    18. Andres Ramirez, 2011. "Nonprofit Cash Holdings," Public Finance Review, , vol. 39(5), pages 653-681, September.
    19. Xin Chen & Chang Yang, 2021. "Vertical interlock and the value of cash holdings," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(1), pages 561-593, March.
    20. So, Jacky Yuk-chow & Zhang, John Fan, 2022. "The effect of cultural heterogeneity on cash holdings of multinational businesses," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • F23 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - Multinational Firms; International Business
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill
    • G38 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Government Policy and Regulation

    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:unm:umamet:2012013. 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: Andrea Willems or Leonne Portz (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/meteonl.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.