Inalienable Customer Capital, Corporate Liquidity, and Stock Returns

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Dou, Winston Wei; Ji, Yan; Reibstein, David; Wu, Wei
• 署名单位: University of Pennsylvania; Hong Kong University of Science & Technology; Texas A&M University System; Texas A&M University College Station
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF FINANCE
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-1082
• DOI: 10.1111/jofi.12960
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: 211-265
• 关键词: research-and-development; Asset pricing implications; cross-section; executive-compensation; financial constraints; ceo compensation; SYSTEMATIC-RISK; wage rigidity; INVESTMENT; FIRMS

摘要

We develop a model in which customer capital depends on key talents' contribution and pure brand recognition. Customer capital guarantees stable demand but is fragile to financial constraints risk if retained mainly by talents, who tend to quit financially constrained firms, damaging customer capital. Using a proprietary, granular brand-perception survey, we construct a firm-level measure of the inalienability of customer capital (ICC) that captures the degree to which customer capital depends on talents. Firms with higher ICC have higher average returns, higher talent turnover, and more precautionary financial policies. The ICC-sorted long-short portfolio's spread comoves with financial constraints factor.