Search

Suppliers that are farther away from their customers make more relationship-specific investments (RSI). This association is more pronounced when it is less costly for the customer to switch to alternative suppliers and when the supplier operates in relatively opaque information environments. Using the introduction of new airline routes as an exogenous shock to the distance between supply chain partners, we show that the relation between supplier RSI and distance may be causal. We also provide evidence that suppliers with larger RSI are better able to maintain long-distance business relationships and are associated with higher firm value. These findings suggest an important dimension of supplier commitment: Suppliers use RSI as a signal of their willingness to fulfill on-going implicit claims. KEYWORDS commitment, customer-supplier relationship, geographic proximity, holdup problem, principal-agent problem, relationship-specific investments JEL CLASSIFICATION G32, G41, Z13, 1 | INTRODUCTION In this paper, we examine whether and how geographic distance from a major customer affects suppliers' willingness to make relationship-specific investments (RSI). These investments require commitment of [...]

We show an inverse relation between the use of short-term debt and stock market liquidity. This finding is robust to a battery of control variables, alternative measures of the key variables, and various identification strategies. A difference-in-difference (DiD) approach suggests that the relation between debt maturity structure and stock liquidity may be causal. The impact of stock liquidity on debt maturity is stronger in the presence of large institutional holdings and when borrowers are subject to greater refinancing risk. We also provide evidence that firms with liquid stock tend to issue longer-term bonds and enjoy lower bond yield spreads. Overall, our results support the view that the governance function of stock market liquidity reduces the necessity of debt market monitoring, which allows firms to shift toward longer-term debt to avoid the costs and risk of frequent refinancing.