集团财务公司效率与企业创新

Captive Finance Company Efficiency and Corporate Innovation

企业集团是发展中国家普遍存在的企业形式,内部资本市场运作对企业创新的影响有待实证证据的检验。集团财务公司是企业集团的内部银行,是集团内部资本市场的中枢和运作平台,对实现资金优化配置、缓解集团成员企业融资约束具有重要的战略意义。并且集团财务公司服务对象主要是集团成员企业,是集团内部资本市场运作的集中体现。基于融资约束视角,研究集团财务公司效率对企业创新产出的影响。选取2007年至2013年中国制造业上市公司和集团财务公司的相关数据,采用随机前沿分析测量集团财务公司效率,运用多元线性回归检验集团财务公司效率、金融环境与企业创新产出间的内在联系。研究结果表明,集团财务公司效率与企业创新产出之间显著正相关,主要通过缓解融资约束促进企业创新产出;集团财务公司效率能降低集团成员企业的信息不对称程度,在货币趋紧时能够帮助集团成员企业避免可能的财务冲击,促进企业创新产出;集团财务公司效率与地区金融发展水平在一定程度上存在替代效应,验证了内部资本市场对外部资本市场存在替代作用。通过理论分析和实证检验将集团财务公司效率的经济后果拓展到企业创新活动领域,从集团财务公司的角度分析并证明其运营效率对企业创新活动的正向影响,为企业创新活动的研究提供了一个新的研究视角。设立集团财务公司是制造业企业集团产融结合的手段之一,研究结论为企业集团设立集团财务公司的必要性、提高运营效率提供了经验证据,丰富了产融结合领域的研究。

Business groups are prevalent in developing countries. However, the impact of internal capital market on corporate in- novation remains unexplored. As business groups＇ internal banks, captive finance companies provide financial support for other group members and serve as the center of internal capital market in business groups. Their operating efficiency is crucial for opti- mizing capital allocation within the groups and can effectively relieve financial constraints of group members. Thus, the efficiency of finance companies greatly determines the well-functioning of internal capital market in business groups. Using data of Chinese listed companies controlled by business groups with captive finance companies in the manufacturing indus- try during 2007 and 2013, this paper investigates whether the efficiency of business groups＇ finance companies facilitates the innovation activities of other group subsidiaries by relieving their financing constrains. We measure the efficiency of finance companies with stochastic frontier analysis approach and find a significant positive association between the efficiency of a group＇s finance company and the innovation output of other group members. This relation is more pronounced when a group member suffers severer information asymmetry, when the macro environment is monetary tightening, and when the subsidiary is situated in provinces with underdeveloped financial market. The results demonstrating that the internal capital market of business groups acts as a substitute for external financing channels in promoting corporate innovation. Thus improving efficiency of finance companies can help boost innovation activities of other group members by relieving financing constraints.This paper contributes to several streams of literature. Firstly, it adds to the growing studies on the economic consequences of ef- ficiency in finance companies of business groups. By demonstrating the impact of finance companies＇ efficiency from the perspec- tive of corporate innovation, our study emphasizes the important role of finance companies in managing internal capital market of business groups and further extends research on economic consequences of internal capital market. Secondly, our paper enriches the literature on the determinants of corporate innovation. While previous studies focus on the effect of internal corporate governance and external environment on corporate innovation, we investigate whether the operation of internal capital market will shape corporate innovation activities from the efficiency of finance companies in business groups. Besides, we contribute to the literature on financial-industrial integration. We provide empirical evidence on the role of financial-industrial integration in alleviating financial constraints and promoting corporate innovation. Our findings can lend support to the necessity to establish finance companies in business groups as they generally establish finance companies to realize financial-industrial integration.