• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.27-40
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• 2019

The study examines the effects of growth opportunities, debt maturity and liquidity risk on leverage, making use of a large panel of Chinese listed firms. Research on capital structure has broadened its scope from a single capital structure decision (the debt/equity choice) to various attributes of the debt in firms' capital structure. We use the system Generalized Method of Moments estimator to control for unobserved heterogeneity and the potential endogeneity of regressors. We find a negative relationship between growth opportunities and leverage. Further, we find that while the proportion of short-term debt attenuates the negative effect of growth opportunities on leverage, it negatively affects leverage as predicted by the liquidity risk hypothesis. When we distinguish between state owned firms and private controlled firms, we find evidence that these effects are only relevant to private controlled firms. However, our analysis indicates that the economic implication of liquidity risk effect is much lower for Chinese firms than that observed in the literature for US firms. Our study suggests that these differences can be explained by differences in the institutional environment in which firms operate. This finding related to Diamond's (1991) liquidity risk hypothesis extends our understanding of the relationship between liquidity risk and the debt maturity choice.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.87-115
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• 2024

This study examines the effect of R&D investment on firm performance and value of Chinese private firms. Through R&D investment, firms aim to acquire knowledge and technological resources to create innovation and competitive advantage, which ultimately enhances firm performance and value. However, unlike other investments, R&D investments are characterized by high adjustment costs and risks, uncertainty and asymmetric information. In addition, the effect of R&D investment on firm performance and value has been shown to be mixed results due to various internal and external contextual factors. Therefore, this study intends to consider how the ESG activities of firms, which have recently attracted attention, act as a contextual factor in the results of R&D investment. This is because interaction with stakeholders through ESG activities is considered to be an important factor in securing competitive advantages and sustainable growth. In this context, this study measures the effect of a firm's R&D investment on its business performance by dividing it into financial performance and value, respectively, and examines the moderating effect of ESG score on the relationship. Based on empirical analysis of all Chinese private firms from 2010 to 2019, the results show that a firm's R&D investment has a negative impact on performance and a positive impact on value. Furthermore, a high ESG score of private firms positively moderates each relationship, emphasizing the importance of ESG activities.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.8-17
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• 2017

Using 1855 observations from 5 years-371 firms panel data during 2010 to 2014 in Chinese stock exchanges, this study examines the impact of managers' ownership on R & D expenditures. The empirical study finds that when firms are state-owned, managers' ownership have negative relation with the level of R & D expenses as well as the likelihood of executing R & D investment, implying that managers are less likely to invest in high risky projects due to managerial ownership's entrenchment effects to pursue private benefits rather than alignment of interest effect as shareholders. The empirical study also finds that when firms are private-owned, managerial ownership are inverse U shaped related to the level of R & D expenses, implying that managers are less likely to invest in high risky projects due to increasing risk aversion resulting from concentration of private wealth at its high level while managers are more likely to invest in high risky projects due to increasing incentives as shareholders at its low level. The results support that the effects of managerial ownership on R & D expenses may be different according to the ownership type of Chinese listed firms.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.39-76
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• 2021

This article examines the effect of CEO's political connections on firm performance in Chinese private firms. Following the upper echelon theory and human capital theory, CEO's personal characteristics affect the strategic decision-making of the firm, and it is also firm-specific advantages that work as the human capital for the sustainable growth of the firm. In this regard, this article tries to empirically confirm whether CEO's political connections have positive effects on firm performance as the firm's human capital by dividing the Chinese local governments, which is a direct subject of political connections hierarchically. In addition, this research examines the mediating effects of government subsidies between political connections and firm performance. To verify these questions, we use a sample of 9,849 observations of 1,451 private firms listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2008 to 2016, the results show that the CEO's political connections are positively related to firm performance. Moreover, we find that only political connections with the provincial local government had a positive effect on firm performance. It indicates that values and influences of human capital held by CEOs only affect when they are related to the highest local government. Finally, when CEOs have political connections with city-level, it shows complete mediating effect. It provides empirical evidence to find that CEO's political connections affect firm performance as the results of non-market strategic of firms.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.255-262
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• 2021

The paper examines the influence of ownership type on environmental performance of Chinese listed enterprises. China's environmental problems are attributed to the collusion between enterprises and economy-oriented local governments, which has allowed many companies to skirt environmental regulations. Especially, local state-owned enterprises (SOEs) tend to have worse environmental performance than private firms, under the wing of local governments, with whom they have a closer political connection. According to the report of the Environmental Protection Agency, currently the unacceptably poor environmental performance of local SOEs has severely hampered the realization of green economy in China. After examining the dataset of 15,996 firm-year observations from 2,688 listed firms, this paper found that, in the presence of central government supervision and personnel intervention, listed local SOEs will be forced to improve their environmental performance in accordance with standards set by the central government, which leads to better environmental performance than that of listed private firms (private firms). The result of two-stage regression also supports the conclusion. This shows increased supervision and personnel intervention from the central government can significantly improve the environmental performance of local SOEs. The research in this paper expects to make a contribution to attaining the goal of green economy in China.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.67-79
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• 2019

This study examines the impact of corporate governance on capital structure decisions based on a large panel of Chinese listed firms. Using the system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) estimator to control for unobserved heterogeneity, endogeneity, and persistency in capital structure decisions, we document that the ownership structure plays a significant role in determining leverage ratios. More specially, we find that managerial ownership has a positive and significant impact on firms' leverage, consistent with the incentive alignment hypothesis. We also find that managerial ownership only affects the leverage decisions of private firms in the post-2005 split share reform period. State ownership negatively influence leverage decisions implying that SOEs may face fewer restrictions in equity issuance and may receive favourable treatments when applying for seasoned equity ¿nancing, thus use less debt. Furthermore, our results show that while foreign ownership negatively influences leverage decisions, legal person shareholding positively influences firms' leverage decisions only for state controlled firms. We also find that the board structure variables (board size and the proportion of independent directors) do not influence firms' capital structure decisions. Our findings suggest that recent ownership reforms have been successful in terms of providing incentive to managers through managerial shareholdings to take risky financial choices.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.7 no.9
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• pp.51-61
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• 2020

This research investigates the consequences of the increase in corporate use of short-term debt in China over the past decades. Using a sample of Chinese firms from 2007 to 2018, we empirically explore the effect of corporate use of short-term debt for long-term investment (SFLI) on audit pricing. We first examine the relationship between SFLI and audit pricing for different groups of firms. Then, we investigate the role of the increase in short-term debt in alleviating principal-agent conflicts and reducing agency costs. We have four primary empirical findings. First, auditors tend to charge SFLI clients higher fees. Second, the negative relationship between SFLI and audit fee is found in private firms, firms audited by Chinese domestic auditors, and firms with higher information asymmetry. Third, the time auditors spent on SFLI clients is significantly more than that spent on non-SFLI clients, suggesting that the decrease in audit fee is not due to the decrease in cost. Fourth, SFLI significantly reduces the agency costs of the firm, which auditors regard as a low risk signal and grant an audit fee discount. Our findings suggest that the decrease in debt maturity, not only influences managerial behaviors, but also influences auditors' risk assessment and pricing decisions.

• International Commerce and Information Review
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.63-82
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• 2017

This study explores the barrier factors of Chinese private-owned enterprises in overseas expansion in terms of corruption, political risk, market fluctuation, cultural difference, and firms resource endowments. To explore the existing practical backgrounds, it was investigated to private-owned enterprises dealing with foreign export companies where run business in Hohhot, Baotou and Ordos, Inner Mongolia, China. The result shows that the corruption and political risks of host countries do not have significant influence on business performance in 'Go global' strategy, while the market fluctuation of host countries has a negative effect on business performance. Cultural difference has a negative effect on business performance, and enterprises' resource endowments have a positive effect on business performance in 'Go global' strategy. Additionally, interviewees provide several substantial suggestions regarding the government policy and industry ecosystem to surmount the barriers of POEs' going global. Lastly, the authors discuss managerial implications and provide several suggestions for the future studies.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2022.06a
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• pp.967-974
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• 2022

It is no news that Nigeria's infrastructure challenge is enormous. In the global ranking, Nigeria ranked low in quantity and quality of its infrastructural provision which has a great impact on the ease of business transaction. Low investments in transportation have brought about the current infrastructural deficit. Recently, the Nigerian government has made effort to address at least to some extent the infrastructural deficit through Public-Private Partnership, but this has not yielded the desired result. Moreover, the sustainability issues relating to railway projects such as, emissions, noise pollution, ecosystem, and other environmental issues calls for urgent attention. Hence, this necessitated consideration on sustainability appraisal for the Chinese rail project in Nigeria. This study reviews sustainability of railway projects built by the Chinese firm in Nigeria with particular emphasis on the environmental and social impact of these projects. The study further identified issues and challenges in project implementation with a particular focus on civil dialogue and community engagements. A detailed literature search was conducted on railway projects and infrastructure by systematically reviewing selected published articles.The analysis of the selected articles identified sustainability issues and potential for improvement of Chinese railway projects and how they contribute to or inhibit competitiveness in the Nigerian railway market. From the literature searched, some of the projects constructed by Chinese firm revealed that there is economic and social impact of railway projects delivered by the Chinese firm in terms of capacity development and knowledge transfer potentiality. For instance, in the just concluded Lagos-Ibadan railway projects, the study gathered that the project brought about 5000 jobs and local staff were trained by the Chinese company, this will boost man power and local content capability. Also, it will significantly improve Nigeria's infrastructure and boost its economic development. The study suggests that Nigerian government should ensure and provide an enabling environment that is conducive for investment on the continent. Peace, improved security, and decent governance are the best conditions for sustainable transportation growth.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.12
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• pp.162-169
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• 2016

Using 1795 observations from the 5 year-359 firm panel data collected during the period from 2009 to 2013 in Chinese stock exchanges, this study examines the impact of the controlling shareholders' ownership on R & D expenditure. This empirical study finds that when firms are state-owned, the controlling shareholders' ownership has a U shaped relation with the level of R & D expenses. A non-linear relation is also found when piece-wise regression models are applied. This empirical study also finds that when firms are private-owned, the controlling shareholders' ownership is negatively related to the level of R & D expenses, and no structural changes in the relation are found when piece-wise regression models are applied. These results support the hypothesis that the effects of the controlling shareholders' ownership on R & D expenses may differ depending on the ownership type of the controlling shareholders. This finding suggests that the differences in the controlling shareholders' incentives due to their ownership type should be considered when exploring the relation between the controlling shareholders' ownership and corporate strategic decisions.