This paper examines the empirical relationship between working capital management (WCM) and firm performance (FP) for Australasian publicly listed firms. Australia and New Zealand are attractive investment destinations due to their business friendly environments. The past two decades have seen increased academic attention in studies linking WCM and FP across various parts of globe. The empirical relationship between WCM-FP has not been sufficiently examined in regards to Australian and New Zealand firms. This study measures the role of WCM during the 2008 global financial crisis in both Australia and New Zealand firms. This study uses System General Method of Moments to address the endogeneity problem in order to reduce the possibility of biased results. The results show that WCM has a significant relationship with FP. More specifically, the Cash Conversion Cycle (CCC) and the Inventory Conversion Period (ICP) exhibit negative relationships with FP indicating that a reduction in the CCC and the ICP help to improve FP in Australasian firms. However, in the case of the Average Collection Period (ACP) and the Average Payment Period (APP), the results vary between both countries. In Australia, the ACP has no significant relationship, whereas APP has a positive relationship. This is contrary in the case of New Zealand firms. Another important finding is that firms in both markets were relatively efficient collecting their receivables during the 2008 global financial crisis period. These findings provide new empirical evidence that WCM matters for improving FP in Australasian firms.

中文翻译：

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营运资金管理与企业绩效关系：对澳大利亚企业的实证调查

本文研究了澳大利亚上市公司的营运资本管理 (WCM) 与公司绩效 (FP) 之间的经验关系。澳大利亚和新西兰因其商业友好的环境而成为有吸引力的投资目的地。在过去的 20 年里，在全球各地将 WCM 和 FP 联系起来的研究中，学术界的关注度越来越高。WCM-FP 之间的经验关系尚未在澳大利亚和新西兰的公司中得到充分检验。本研究衡量了 2008 年全球金融危机期间 WCM 在澳大利亚和新西兰公司中的作用。本研究使用系统通用矩量法来解决内生性问题，以减少出现偏差结果的可能性。结果表明，WCM 与 FP 具有显着的相关性。进一步来说，现金转换周期 (CCC) 和库存转换周期 (ICP) 与 FP 呈负相关，表明 CCC 和 ICP 的降低有助于改善澳大利亚公司的 FP。但是，在平均收款期 (ACP) 和平均支付期 (APP) 的情况下，两国的结果有所不同。在澳大利亚，ACP 没有显着关系，而 APP 有正相关关系。这与新西兰公司的情况相反。另一个重要发现是，两个市场的公司在 2008 年全球金融危机期间收取应收账款的效率相对较高。这些发现提供了新的经验证据，证明 WCM 对改善澳大利亚公司的 FP 很重要。