Corporate Governance Structure, Financial Capability, and the R&D Intensity in Chinese Sports Sector: Evidence from Listed Sports Companies

Gang Chen, James J. Zhang and N. David Pifer
Additional contact information
Gang Chen: School of Economics and Management, Wuhan Sport University, Wuhan 430070, China
James J. Zhang: Department of Kinesiology (Sport Management), University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA
N. David Pifer: Department of Kinesiology & Sport Management, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 23, 1-19

Abstract: Innovations are the foundation of an enterprise’s sustainable development, which is particularly important for sports firms in an evolving Chinese sport industrial environment. Analyzing publicly-listed sports firms on The New Third Board (NTB) in China, this study examined the influence of corporate financial capability and corporate governance structure on firms’ R&D intensity through a series of multiple regression models. Findings revealed that corporate financial capability is an important determinant of R&D intensity, and corporate governance structure has a small but meaningful effect on R&D intensity. Specifically, for Chinese sports firms, several financial capability indicators, such as return on equity, accounts receivable turnover, assets turnover, and profit growth rate, have positive relationships with R&D intensity; however, other financial capability indicators, such as leverage and cash flow, have negative relationships with R&D intensity. Limited evidence was found to support the notion that corporate governance significantly influences R&D intensity, although sports firms with good governance mechanisms are more likely to increase the positive effects of financial capabilities on R&D intensity while decreasing the negative effects. Discussions were centered on planning and executing R&D activities in sports companies.

Keywords: corporate financial capability; corporate governance structure; listed sports enterprises in new three-board in China; R&D intensity; policy effectiveness (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/23/6810/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/23/6810/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:11:y:2019:i:23:p:6810-:d:292732

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().