Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify whether negative operating cash flows are related to investment inefficiency, and specifically whether they are related to subsequent overinvestment and if this relationship is driven by agency problems within the firm.

Design/methodology/approach

The study conducts fixed effect regressions, testing the relationship between negative operating cash flows and the firm’s subsequent investment inefficiency. The relationship is further examined for all firms based on size, corporate governance and cash holdings – all of which are related to agency problems.

Findings

The proportion of firms reporting negative operating cash flows has been increasing over time and is positively related to subsequent investment inefficiency. This increase is explained not only by the rise in investment of intangible assets. The positive relationship is not explained by the firm size or corporate governance, but is related to cash holdings. These results are consistent across four different measures of firm investment.

Practical implications

The percentage of publicly traded firms with negative operating cash flows has never been higher. This paper is one of the first to identify factors that may be contributing to this rise.

Originality/value

This study extends prior findings by identifying previously unexplored factors related to the rise in firms with negative operating cash flows. The rise in investment of intangible assets does not explain the increase alone. High cash holdings also influence the rise in negative operating cash flows.

中文翻译：

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负的经营现金流和投资效率低下

目的

本文的目的是确定负经营现金流是否与投资效率低下有关，特别是它们是否与随后的过度投资有关，以及这种关系是否是由公司内部的代理问题驱动的。

设计/方法/方法

该研究进行了固定效应回归，测试了负经营现金流量与公司随后的投资效率低下之间的关系。所有公司都根据规模、公司治理和现金持有量进一步研究了这种关系——所有这些都与代理问题有关。

发现

随着时间的推移，报告负经营现金流的公司比例一直在增加，并且与随后的投资效率低下呈正相关。增加的原因不仅是无形资产投资的增加。这种正相关关系不是用公司规模或公司治理来解释的，而是与现金持有量有关。这些结果在企业投资的四种不同衡量标准中是一致的。

实际影响

经营现金流为负的上市公司比例从未如此之高。本文是最早确定可能导致这种上升的因素之一。

原创性/价值

本研究通过确定以前未探索的与经营现金流为负的公司增加相关的因素来扩展先前的发现。无形资产投资的增加并不能单独解释增加。高现金持有量也会影响负经营现金流量的增加。