营运资金管理对中小企业的盈利能力的影响[外文翻译]

本科毕业论文（设计）外文翻译原文：EffectsOfWorkingCapitalManagementOnSmeProfitabilityThecorporatefinanceliteraturehastraditionallyfocusedonthestudyoflong-termfinancialdecisions.Researchershaveparticularlyofferedstudiesanalyzinginvestments,capitalstructure,dividendsorcompanyvaluation,amongothertopics.Buttheinvestmentthatfirmsmakeinshort-termassets,andtheresourcesusedwithmaturitiesofunderoneyear,representthemainshareofitemsonafirm’sbalancesheet.Infact,inoursamplethecurrentassetsofsmallandmedium-sizedSpanishfirmsrepresent69.48percentoftheirassets,andatthesametimetheircurrentliabilitiesrepresentmorethan52.82percentoftheirliabilities.Workingcapitalmanagementisimportantbecauseofitseffectsonthefirm’sprofitabilityandrisk,andconsequentlyitsvalue(Smith,1980).Ontheonehand,maintaininghighinventorylevelsreducesthecostofpossibleinterruptionsintheproductionprocess,oroflossofbusinessduetothescarcityofproducts,reducessupplycosts,andprotectsagainstpricefluctuations,amongotheradvantages(BlinderandManccini,1991).Ontheother,grantingtradecreditfavorsthefirm’ssalesinvariousways.Tradecreditcanactasaneffectivepricecut(Brennan,MaksimovicandZechner,1988;PetersenandRajan,1997),incentivizescustomerstoacquiremerchandiseattimesoflowdemand(Emery,1987),allowscustomerstocheckthatthemerchandisetheyreceiveisasagreed(quantityandquality)andtoensurethattheservicescontractedarecarriedout(Smith,1987),andhelpsfirmstostrengthenlong-termrelationshipswiththeircustomers(Ng,SmithandSmith,1999).However,firmsthatinvestheavilyininventoryandtradecreditcansufferreducedprofitability.Thus,thegreatertheinvestmentincurrentassets,thelowertherisk,butalsothelowertheprofitabilityobtained.Ontheotherhand,tradecreditisaspontaneoussourceoffinancingthatreducestheamountrequiredtofinancethesumstiedupintheinventoryandcustomeraccounts.Butweshouldbearinmindthatfinancingfromsupplierscanhaveaveryhighimplicitcostifearlypaymentdiscountsareavailable.Infacttheopportunitycostmayexceed20percent,dependingonthediscountpercentageandthediscountperiodgranted(Wilner,2000;Ng,SmithandSmith,1999).Inthisrespect,previousstudieshaveanalyzedthehighcostoftradecredit,andfindthatfirmsfinancethemselveswithsellercreditwhentheydonothaveothermoreeconomicsourcesoffinancingavailable(PetersenandRajan,1994and1997).Decisionsabouthowmuchtoinvestinthecustomerandinventoryaccounts,andhowmuchcredittoacceptfromsuppliers,arereflectedinthefirm’scashconversioncycle,whichrepresentstheaveragenumberofdaysbetweenthedatewhenthefirmmuststartpayingitssuppliersandthedatewhenitbeginstocollectpaymentsfromitscustomers.Somepreviousstudieshaveusedthismeasuretoanalyzewhethershorteningthecashconversioncyclehaspositiveornegativeeffectsonthefirm’sprofitability.Specifically,ShinandSoenen(1998)analyzetherelationbetweenthecashconversioncycleandprofitabilityforasampleoffirmslistedontheUSstockexchangeduringtheperiod1974-1994.Theirresultsshowthatreducingthecashconversioncycletoareasonableextentincreasesfirms’profitability.Morerecently,Deloof(2003)analyzesasampleoflargeBelgianfirmsduringtheperiod1992-1996.HisresultsconfirmthatBelgianfirmscanimprovetheirprofitabilitybyreducingthenumberofdaysaccountsreceivableareoutstandingandreducinginventories.Moreover,hefindsthatlessprofitablefirmswaitlongertopaytheirbills.Thesepreviousstudieshavefocusedtheiranalysisonlargerfirms.However,themanagementofcurrentassetsandliabilitiesisparticularlyimportantinthecaseofsmallandmedium-sizedcompanies.Mostofthesecompanies’assetsareintheformofcurrentassets.Also,currentliabilitiesareoneoftheirmainsourcesofexternalfinanceinviewoftheirdifficultiesinobtainingfundinginthelong-termcapitalmarkets(PetersenandRajan,1997)andthefinancingconstraintsthattheyface(Whited,1992;FazzariandPetersen,1993).Inthisrespect,ElliehausenandWoken(1993),PetersenandRajan(1997)andDanielsonandScott(2000)showthatsmallandmedium-sizedUSfirmsusevendorfinancingwhentheyhaverunoutofdebt.Thus,efficientworkingcapitalmanagementisparticularlyimportantforsmallercompanies(PeelandWilson,1996).Inthiscontext,theobjectiveofthecurrentworkistoprovideempiricalevidenceabouttheeffectsofworkingcapitalmanagementonprofitabilityforapanelmadeupof8,872SMEsduringtheperiod1996-2002.Thisworkcontributestotheliteratureintwoways.First,noprevioussuchevidenceexistsforthecaseofSMEs.WeuseasampleofSpanishSMEsthatoperatewithintheso-calledcontinentalmodel,whichischaracterizedbyitslessdevelopedcapitalmarkets(LaPorta,López-de-Silanes,Shleifer,andVishny,1997),andbythefactthatmostresourcesarechanneledthroughfinancialintermediaries(Pampillón,2000).AllthissuggeststhatSpanishSMEshavefeweralternativesourcesofexternalfinanceavailable,whichmakesthemmoredependentonshort-termfinanceingeneral,andontradecreditinparticular.AsDemirguc-KuntandMaksimovic(2002)suggest,firmsoperatingincountrieswithmoredevelopedbankingsystemsgrantmoretradecredittotheircustomers,andatthesametimetheyreceivemorefinancefromtheirownsuppliers.Thesecondcontributionisthat,unlikethepreviousstudiesbyShinandSoenen(1998)andDeloof(2003),inthecurrentworkwehaveconductedtestsrobusttothepossiblepresenceofendo