Extended Abstract The Role of Ownership Structure in the Inventory and Cash Management Practices in the Companies Listed on Tehran Stock Exchange

 
Extended Abstract
 
The Role of Ownership Structure in the Inventory and Cash Management Practices in the Companies Listed
on Tehran Stock Exchange 
  
 
Dr. M. H. Setayesh
Shiraz University


G. Rezaei
Islamic Azad   University
 Arsanjan Branch 
 
 
S. D. Hosseini Rad
Graduate Student, Islamic Azad   University
 Yasooj Science and Research Branch




 
Introduction
The main goal of this paper is to provide a new empirical assessment of the ownership structure on the inventory and cash holdings of non-financial listed firms in Iran. Our current knowledge about the role of these ownership structures (i.e., institutional ownership, firm’s ownership, managerial ownership and ownership concentration) in Iran is still limited. In the present study, an attempt is made to answer the following question: “Is there a significant relationship between the inventory and cash management practices and ownership structure?” Hence, the main objective of this study is to investigate ownership structure on the inventory and cash management practices which are listed firms in the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE).
Our research identifies two channels through which ownership structure can affect a firm’s inventory policy: the liquidity channel and the control channel. The liquidity channel suggests that the type of ownership structures affects a firm’s liquidity constraints. For example, lenders may be more willing to renew their loans to a firm owned by powerful institutional shareholders. Thus, for a firm, especially a small one with low bargaining power, having institutional investors as blockholders, would clearly diminish its liquidity needs. This, in turn, should induce, on average, a lower inventory level as its need to accumulate relatively easy cashable assets like inventories to hedge liquidity shocks is reduced. The control channel suggests that the control may implement certain types of actions against the remaining shareholders’ interests. These actions generally involve overinvestment to the advantage of main blockholders that, eventually, may affect the steady-state inventory and cash levels.
 
Research Hypotheses
Based on the theoretical literature and the conducted studies, research hypotheses were developed as follows:
H1: There is a significant relationship between institutional ownership and the inventory management practices.
H2: There is a significant relationship between firm’s ownership and the inventory management practices.
H3: There is a significant relationship between managerial ownership and the inventory management practices.
H4: There is a significant relationship between ownership concentration and the inventory management practices.
H5: There is a significant relationship between institutional ownership and the cash management practices.
H6: There is a significant relationship between firm`s ownership and the cash management practices.
H7: There is a significant relationship between managerial ownership and the cash management practices.
H8: There is a significant relationship between ownership concentration and the cash management practices.
 
Methods
The research methodology is a quantitative research that uses the scientific method and empirical evidence based on hypotheses and research designs previously done. This category research is used when the criteria for measurement data quantitative and statistical techniques are used to derive the results. In this research, data of 67 companies are analyzed for the period of 2004-2009. The related data was collected through observation of Iranian database of Tehran Stock Exchange (Tadbir Pardaz) annual data files and the accompanying notes as found on www.rdis.com. For statistical analysis and to test hypotheses, descriptive statistics (i.e., mean, maximum, minimum and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (i.e., enter multiple linear regression) are used. The collected data was calculated using the Excel software and was analyzed using SPSS-19 and Eviews-7.
 
Results
The results of this research show that there is a reverse relationship between managerial ownership and inventory holding, but there is not any significant relationship between the other ownership structure variables (i.e., institutional ownership, firm ownership and ownership concentration) and inventory holding. In addition, the results also show that there is a reverse relationship between institutional ownership and ownership concentration and cash holding, but there is no significant relationship between the other ownership structure variables (i.e., firm ownership and managerial ownership) and cash holding.
 
Discussion and Conclusion
The goal of this research is to study the effects of ownership structure in the inventory and cash management practices for the companies listed in the TSE. Our findings make new contribution to governance literature to extend our understanding about the role of these ownership structures in Iran. This paper shows the relevance of a firm’s ownership structure on its definition of inventory and cash policy. We find that a firm with managerial ownership as blockholders shows lower average inventory levels. Also, our research shows that a firm with institutional ownership as blockholders and higher ownership concentration shows lower average cash levels.
From the above conclusion, we layout following policy implications: the firms should implement changes in the type of ownership structure to institutional ownership as blockholders and increase their ownership concentration in order to improve cash management practices. In addition, the firms should implement changes in the type of ownership structure to managerial ownership as blockholders to improve inventory management practices.