Working Capital Management and Firm Performance in Emerging Economies: Evidence from India

Abstract

This article aims to investigate the relationship between working capital management and firm performance in an emerging market. The analysis is done over a long window spanning across 2000–2014 by using ordinary least square (OLS), fixed- and random-effects model and generalized method of moments (GMM) on 2,327 firm-year observations, a panel data of 179 companies listed on the S&P BSE 500 Index of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). For robustness, in addition to accounting performance, market-based performance measure has also been employed to measure firm performance. This study based on India finds a negative relationship between the working capital management and firm performance, necessitating the need to efficiently manage the working capital for enhanced profitability.

Keywords

Working capital management cash conversion cycle profitability emerging markets India panel data GMM

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