Political Connections, Institutional Environments and Firm Performance : Evidence from China Listed Firms

Abstract

本文以2008-2010年中國上海證券交易所A股之上市公司資料為樣本，旨在探討不同類型的政治關係對公司績效的影響。此外，並加入不同地區之制度環境指標來探討政治關係和公司績效的關聯。研究結果發現高管曾擔任人大代表的政治關係對公司績效的助益最為明顯，且不論是董事會或總經理曾擔任人大代表的政治關係對公司績效的正面影響依然較大，說明在中國曾擔任人大代表的政治關係可以為企業提供一定的幫助。 本研究進一步加入各地區的制度環境指標來探討政治關係與公司績效的關聯，不同於先前的結論，研究顯示高管具行政官員的政治關係對公司績效的影響反而大於高管具人大代表的政治關係。且在考慮了不同地區的法律保護程度後，研究發現當一個地區的政府對企業的法律保護程度越低，則高管曾擔任行政官員的政治關係越能提升公司績效。而在考慮了不同地區的政府干預程度後，結果顯示若一個地區的政府對企業的政府干預程度越高，則高管曾擔任行政官員的政治關係也越能提升公司績效。實證結果並證實地方政府的政治關係對公司績效的影響明顯大於中央政府的政治關係。

The purpose of the dissertation is to study the effect of different types of political relationship on the corporate performance. The samples of this dissertation are selected from listed companies, which based on Shanghai Stock Exchange A-share from 2008 to 2010. In addition, this report is to analyze the correlation between political relationship and corporate performance by institutional environment indicators in different areas of China. The result of this study shows that it is most positive correlation between corporate performance and top executives who used to be deputies of People''s Congress. This indicates the Board of directors or CEOs who used to involve in deputies of People''s Congress have significant influence. In brief, the correlation of deputies in China would assist the company in a certain level.

Furthermore, this report includes the correlation between political relationship and corporate performance by institutional environment indicators in different areas of China. The differences between the previous conclusions disclose that top executives who used to involve with the administrative officials affected more on corporate performance compare to those who used to be deputies of People''s Congress. Moreover, the study cover the distinct of local government law between different region and found that the less a corporate is protected by the local government law, the higher the political relationship of top executives effect the corporate performance. Likewise, the more the government intervenes in a corporation, the more the corporate performance raise. In conclusion, the result of this study proves that the local government has more influence on the corporate performance than the central government does.