Asset‐light strategy, managerial ability, and corporate performance of the Asian telecommunications industry

Abstract

This paper examines the effects of asset‐light strategy on the corporate performance of listed Asian telecommunications corporations and the moderating effect of managerial ability on the association between asset‐light strategy and corporate performance. The study applies the dynamic slacks‐based measure (DSBM) model and Tobit regression to measure managerial ability. The empirical results show that asset‐light strategy positively affects corporate performance and that managerial ability has a significant moderating effect on the relationship between the degree of asset‐lightness (DAL) and corporate performance. The findings further show that the greater the managerial ability, the stronger the relationship between DAL and corporate performance.

An empirical study on the asset-light operation and corporate performance of China's tourism listed companies

“…Despite the increasing studies on the economic consequences of asset-light strategy, most of the existing research focuses on the tourism and hospitality industry in developed nations [ 10 , 11 , 15 , 16 ], while a few studies examine the economic consequences of asset-light strategy in telecommunications and aviation [ 12 , 13 ]. Research on tourism in emerging economies is also limited.…”

“…While the existing research focused on the hospitality industry, Wang et al [ 13 ] have shifted their attention to the airline industry. After that, Wang et al [ 12 ] examined the impact of asset-light strategy in Asian telecommunications industry on corporate performance.…”

“…Nevertheless, the majority of present studies are based on the tourism and hotel industry in developed countries [ 1 , 8 , 10 , 11 ]. A few studies focus on the economic consequences of asset-light operation in the telecommunications and aviation industries [ 12 , 13 ], and the impact of asset-light operation on the tourism industry in emerging economies such as China remains unexplored [ 14 ]. In light of the scarcity of relevant literature, we conducted this investigation in China.…”

Hear all parties: Peer effect of digital transformation on long‐term firm investment in China

“…On the basis of the techniques developed by Surdu (2011) and Wang et al (2020), the asset‐light operation strategy measures the composite index by five indicators. These indicators include the proportion of non‐fixed assets, operating cost ratio, liquid ratio, cash asset ratio, and sales expense ratio by using the principal components method.…”

Chief executive officer ability and cash holding decision

“…In addition, an emerging body of literature has addressed the incremental effects of managerial characteristics, including ability, skill and status, on business decisions. (Demerjian et al , 2013; Naheed et al , 2021; Wang et al , 2020). For instance, Friend and Lang’s (1988) pioneering study examines the level to which executives influence firms’ financial policies.…”