Capital investment, working capital management, and firm performance: Role of managerial ability in US logistics industry

Abstract

This paper studies the interlinkage between capital investment, efficiency in working capital management, managerial ability, and firm performance, for a sample of transportation and logistics firms from US between the period 1988 to 2018. Our results indicate that able managers increase the investment in CAPEX and also concurrently engage in more efficient working capital management. We also show these managers help achieve greater firm performance through visible mediation effects of enhanced CAPEX and optimum use of working capital. We posit that managers with higher ability are in continuous pursual of optimizing firm performance, which motivates them to engage in higher levels of CAPEX vide a trade-off with short-term investment in working capital. Given the challenges and costs of raising external funds, able managers contemporaneously engage in more efficient working capital management to release excess working capital funds, and utilize them for enhancing CAPEX levels. Additionally, we show that the efficiency in working capital management emanates from efficiency in managing inventory, managing receivables as well as managing payables simultaneously. Our results are robust and remains unaltered after controlling for several firm-specific and macroeconomic parameters as well as potential endogeneity concerns.