Mixed Ownership Reform Of State-owned Enterprises And Cash Dividend Policy Of Diversified Firms

Cash dividend policy is an important financial decision in the process of enterprises' profit distribution.Since Lintner's pioneering research on corporate dividend behavior in 1956,the researches from scholars at home and aboard about factors of cash dividend policy run through the micro level,intermediate level and macro level,containing the company's financial characteristics,industry nature and financial crisis,etc.Relevant dividend theories emerge in endlessly,but there is no one could explain systematically why a company distributes dividend yet,so as to Black called it “dividend puzzle”.The existing relevant literature mostly leave out of consideration the business strategy of target companies,neglecting that business group is ubiquitous nowadays,and lots of corporations,especially the listed companies,tend to involved in multiple industries or products,and then the agency conflicts and information asymmetry been alleviated of the diversified firms are the key factors influencing the cash dividend policy.Meanwhile,the agency problems and the extent of information asymmetry relate to one country's specific institutional background.In recent years,China has put the accelerated advancement of mixed ownership reform: the cross-shareholding and integration of state-owned capital,collective capital and non-public capital on the agenda.But existing studies have seldom investigated the effect of diversification on cash dividend policy and the possible influence of mixed ownership reform of state-owned enterprises(SOEs)on cash dividend policy of diversified firms.Consequently,this paper empirically examines the effects of SOEs' mixed ownership reform on cash dividend policy of diversified firms and its internal mechanism,using the data from 2003 to 2016 of Chinese A-share state-owned listed companies as samples.The research draws the following conclusions:⑴Compared with specialized enterprises,the diversified firms have lower tendency and amount of cash dividend payment;⑵ while the ownership diversity improves the tendency of cash dividend payment of diversified firms,it has no significant impact on the amount of cash dividend payment.Both the equity restriction and government control right transfer increase the tendency and amount of cash dividend payment in diversified firm.Further research based on industrial competition shows that the positive impact of SOEs' mixed ownership reform on cash dividend payment of diversified firms is more prominent in highly competitive industries;The positive influence results from the mixed ownership reform's effect of governance,alleviating the diversification agency problems.This paper's enlightenment are mainly embodied in the following aspects: ⑴From the perspective of financing constraints and agency problems,this paper explores cash dividend policy of the diversified firms,not only supplements and widens relevant research findings on cash dividend policy,but also sheds light on Black's “dividend puzzle”;⑵On the basis of studying cash dividend policy of diversified firms,this paper examines the effect of different mixed ownership reform ways on cash dividend policy of the diversified firms,and explores its mechanism,considering the dynamic adjustment of Chinese enterprises' ownership structure or property right's nature under current institute background.It provides some empirical evidencefor evaluating the consequence of SOEs' mixed ownership reform systematically and comprehensively,and simultaneously offer some policy suggestions and reference for further exploration of feasible SOEs' reform pattern;⑶ Our results provide new impetus for accelerating mixed ownership reform of state-owned enterprises,and then alleviating the agency conflicts of diversified firms,protecting the interests of shareholders.