Effects of working capital
management on SME profitability
Pedro Juan Garcı´a-Teruel and Pedro Martı´nez-Solano
Deptartment of Management and Finance, Faculty of Economy and Business,
University of Murcia, Murcia, Spain
Abstract
Purpose – The object of the research presented in this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the
effects of working capital management on the profitability of a sample of small and medium-sized
Spanish firms.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors have collected a panel of 8,872 small to
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) covering the period 1996-2002. The authors tested the effects of
working capital management on SME profitability using the panel data methodology.
Findings – The results, which are robust to the presence of endogeneity, demonstrate that managers
can create value by reducing their inventories and the number of days for which their accounts are
outstanding. Moreover, shortening the cash conversion cycle also improves the firm’s profitability.
Originality/value – This work contributes to the literature in two ways. First, no previous such
evidence exists for the case of SMEs. Second, unlike previous studies, in the current work robust test
have been conducted for the possible presence of endogeneity problems. The aim is to ensure that the
relationships found in the analysis carried out are due to the effects of the cash conversion cycle on
corporate profitability and not vice versa.
Keywords Working capital, Profit, Small to medium-sized enterprises
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
The corporate finance literature has traditionally focused on the study of long-term
financial decisions. Researchers have particularly offered studies analyzing
investments, capital structure, dividends or company valuation, among other topics.
But the investment that firms make in short-term assets, and the resources used with
maturities of under one year, represent the main share of items on a firm’s balance
sheet. In fact, in the sample used in the present study, current assets of small and
medium-sized Spanish firms represent 69 percent of their assets, and at the same time
their current liabilities represent more than 52 percent of their liabilities.
Working capital management is important because of its effects on the firm’s
profitability and risk, and consequently its value (Smith, 1980). Specifically, working
capital investment involves a tradeoff between profitability and risk. Decisions that
tend to increase profitability tend to increase risk, and, conversely, decisions that focus
on risk reduction will tend to reduce potential profitability. Gitman (1974) argued that
the cash conversion cycle was a key factor in working capital management. Actually,
decisions about how much to invest in the customer and inventory accounts, and how
much credit to accept from suppliers, are reflected in the firm’s cash conversion cycle,
which represents the average number of days between the date when the firm must
start paying its suppliers and the date when it begins to collect payments from its
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/1743-9132.htm
Financial support from Fundacio´n CajaMurcia is gratefully acknowledged.