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.