Zombie firms and the process of natural selection

Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor(a) principal: Dias, Mariana Rodrigo
Data de Publicação: 2022
Tipo de documento: Dissertação
Idioma: eng
Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
Texto Completo: http://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/38659
Resumo: The topic of zombie firms has become an increasingly researched topic over the years, specifically in Portugal, as zombie firms’ presence in the market is no secret, especially comparing to other European countries. In this paper, I decided to look at the presence of zombie firms in the Portuguese market over 9 years, studying their evolution and the most relevant contributing indicators. For this purpose, I looked at the decision zombie firms take when it comes to staying in the market, and, under which conditions: by restructuring themselves and thus becoming healthy firms, by remaining zombies, or simply exiting the market. While this “choice” is not only dependent of firms themselves and of the variables studied, I found that increases in debt have a negative relationship on firms’ ability to restructure themselves (vs. exiting the market), while increases of number of employees, total assets and of the return on assets indicator have a positive relationship with the ability to recover. Meanwhile, for firms who stick with their zombie status (vs. leaving), increases in the labour force and on return on assets have a negative association with this outcome, while obtaining more debt and increases in total assets have the opposite effect. I find that the variable leverage has little impact in terms of economic significance, despite being statistically significant (for restructured firms). Finally, I have also found that different definitions of zombie firms can lead to different conclusions despite analysing the same sample.
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spelling Zombie firms and the process of natural selectionZombie firmsExitRecoveryRestructuringForbearance lendingDomínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e GestãoThe topic of zombie firms has become an increasingly researched topic over the years, specifically in Portugal, as zombie firms’ presence in the market is no secret, especially comparing to other European countries. In this paper, I decided to look at the presence of zombie firms in the Portuguese market over 9 years, studying their evolution and the most relevant contributing indicators. For this purpose, I looked at the decision zombie firms take when it comes to staying in the market, and, under which conditions: by restructuring themselves and thus becoming healthy firms, by remaining zombies, or simply exiting the market. While this “choice” is not only dependent of firms themselves and of the variables studied, I found that increases in debt have a negative relationship on firms’ ability to restructure themselves (vs. exiting the market), while increases of number of employees, total assets and of the return on assets indicator have a positive relationship with the ability to recover. Meanwhile, for firms who stick with their zombie status (vs. leaving), increases in the labour force and on return on assets have a negative association with this outcome, while obtaining more debt and increases in total assets have the opposite effect. I find that the variable leverage has little impact in terms of economic significance, despite being statistically significant (for restructured firms). Finally, I have also found that different definitions of zombie firms can lead to different conclusions despite analysing the same sample.O tópico de zombie firms tornou-se ao longo dos anos um assunto bastante procurado, especialmente em Portugal, uma vez que a presença de zombie firms é uma realidade aquando comparada com outros países europeus. Neste estudo, decidi investigar a presença de zombies no mercado português ao longo de 9 anos, estudando a sua evolução e os seus maiores contribuintes. Para tal, estudei como as zombies encaram a decisão de saírem ou não do mercado, e o que acontece quando escolhem não sair: se estão mais inclinadas para se restruturarem, tornando-se empresas saudáveis, ou se se mantêm zombies. Não esquecendo que esta decisão não depende apenas das empresas nem das variáveis aqui incluídas, o que encontrei com a minha sample foi uma relação negativa entre as dívidas das empresas e a capacidade de se restruturarem (vs. saírem do mercado), enquanto aumentos no número de empregados, ativo total e retorno no total to ativo têm uma relação positiva com a capacidade de restruturação. Para as empresas que se mantêm no mercado como zombies em vez de saírem, aumentos de empregados e do retorno do total do ativo têm uma associação negativa, enquanto aumentos da dívida e do total do ativo têm o efeito oposto. Para além disto, verifiquei que a variável leverage tem pouco impacto en termos de significancia económica, apesar de ser estatisticamente significante (para empresas restruturadas). Por fim, verifiquei que diferentes definições de zombie firms podem levar a conclusões bastante diferentes, apesar de impostas sobre a mesma sample.Bonfim, Diana Carina Ribeiro GuimarãesVeritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica PortuguesaDias, Mariana Rodrigo2022-09-01T10:24:37Z2022-01-282022-012022-01-28T00:00:00Zinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/masterThesisapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/10400.14/38659TID:202964531enginfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessreponame:Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)instname:Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãoinstacron:RCAAP2023-07-12T17:44:10Zoai:repositorio.ucp.pt:10400.14/38659Portal AgregadorONGhttps://www.rcaap.pt/oai/openaireopendoar:71602024-03-19T18:31:34.399540Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos) - Agência para a Sociedade do Conhecimento (UMIC) - FCT - Sociedade da Informaçãofalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Zombie firms and the process of natural selection
title Zombie firms and the process of natural selection
spellingShingle Zombie firms and the process of natural selection
Dias, Mariana Rodrigo
Zombie firms
Exit
Recovery
Restructuring
Forbearance lending
Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão
title_short Zombie firms and the process of natural selection
title_full Zombie firms and the process of natural selection
title_fullStr Zombie firms and the process of natural selection
title_full_unstemmed Zombie firms and the process of natural selection
title_sort Zombie firms and the process of natural selection
author Dias, Mariana Rodrigo
author_facet Dias, Mariana Rodrigo
author_role author
dc.contributor.none.fl_str_mv Bonfim, Diana Carina Ribeiro Guimarães
Veritati - Repositório Institucional da Universidade Católica Portuguesa
dc.contributor.author.fl_str_mv Dias, Mariana Rodrigo
dc.subject.por.fl_str_mv Zombie firms
Exit
Recovery
Restructuring
Forbearance lending
Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão
topic Zombie firms
Exit
Recovery
Restructuring
Forbearance lending
Domínio/Área Científica::Ciências Sociais::Economia e Gestão
description The topic of zombie firms has become an increasingly researched topic over the years, specifically in Portugal, as zombie firms’ presence in the market is no secret, especially comparing to other European countries. In this paper, I decided to look at the presence of zombie firms in the Portuguese market over 9 years, studying their evolution and the most relevant contributing indicators. For this purpose, I looked at the decision zombie firms take when it comes to staying in the market, and, under which conditions: by restructuring themselves and thus becoming healthy firms, by remaining zombies, or simply exiting the market. While this “choice” is not only dependent of firms themselves and of the variables studied, I found that increases in debt have a negative relationship on firms’ ability to restructure themselves (vs. exiting the market), while increases of number of employees, total assets and of the return on assets indicator have a positive relationship with the ability to recover. Meanwhile, for firms who stick with their zombie status (vs. leaving), increases in the labour force and on return on assets have a negative association with this outcome, while obtaining more debt and increases in total assets have the opposite effect. I find that the variable leverage has little impact in terms of economic significance, despite being statistically significant (for restructured firms). Finally, I have also found that different definitions of zombie firms can lead to different conclusions despite analysing the same sample.
publishDate 2022
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2022-09-01T10:24:37Z
2022-01-28
2022-01
2022-01-28T00:00:00Z
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