Government control and investment : Cash flow relation - Case of Vietnamese listed firms
Abstract
In this paper, the relationship between the internal cash flow and fixed assets investment from Vietnamese enterprises is researched and a U-shaped relationship is discovered. At the low levels of cash flow, the relationship between cash flow and investment is found to be negative while the high levels of cash flow showed the positive investment – cash flow connection Moreover, companies controlled by government are found to have higher sensitive investment – cash flow relationship than private companies, particularly when the cash flow is significantly low which lies on the left-hand side of the U-shaped. Still, the distinction in sensitivities seems to be more among companies that have low investment opportunities. One possible explanation of this finding is related to socio-economic objectives of the nation’s authorities, which creates chances for government controlled firms to expand capital expenditures when internal funds are positively high as well as when they are negative.