The free cash flow hypothesis for sales growth and firm performance
研究发现，拥有自由现金流的公司从销售增长中获得的利润低于没有自由现金流的公司，而不同的治理机制（如管理层持股和共同基金外部持股）对销售增长和绩效的影响不同。
business is business! And business must grow –Dr. Seuss, The Lorax The paper investigates the agency argument that sales growth in firms with free cash flow (and without strong governance) is less profitable than sales growth for firms without free cash flow. It also tests whether strong governance conditions improve the performance of firms with free cash flow and/or limit the investments in unprofitable sales growth. Consistent with agency theory, firms with free cash flow gain less from sales growth than firms without free cash flow. But different governance conditions affect sales growth and performance in different ways. Having substantial management stock ownership mitigates the influence of free cash flow on performance, despite allowing higher sales growth. In contrast, outside blocks held by mutual funds reduce sales growth substantially, but does not increase performance from sales growth. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.