The objective of this paper is to test whether corporate risk management strategies are
interdependent across firms as Adam, Dasgupta and Titman (2007) and Mello and Ruckes (2006)
have recently suggested. A necessary condition for such interdependence would be that
aggregate hedging decisions affect product prices. Indeed, we find that output prices are less
sensitive to FX shocks if more firms hedge their FX risks. Furthermore, we find that the FX
exposure of derivatives users is negatively correlated with the level of hedging in an industry,
while the FX exposure of derivatives non-users is positively correlated with the level of hedging.
The correlations between exposures and levels of hedging further support the hypothesis of
interdependence of derivatives strategies. Finally, we find that industry structure matters for the
level of hedging in an industry: the fraction of derivatives users is negatively correlated with the
degree of competition. When competition is strong firms may refrain from hedging their FX
risks in order to gain a strategic advantage when prices move in their favour. These results
indicate that firms consider both internal (firm-specific) factors as well as external (industryspecific)
factors when deciding upon their risk management strategies.