Choice of financing and governance structures in transport industry : theory and practice

Document Type

Book chapter

Source Publication

Dynamic shipping and port development in the globalized economy

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Volume

1

First Page

150

Last Page

177

Publisher

Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract

The purpose of this work is to develop a descriptive theory of corporate finance and corporate governance for the world transport industry. More specifically, we examine the economic, institutional, and industrial factors behind a transportation company’s choice of different financing mechanisms and governance structures (collectively called “financing methods”). This combined treatment of corporate finance and corporate governance is in line with Williamson (1988), who argues that “the supply of a good or service and its governance need to be examined simultaneously”. This is a step further than the traditional approach in corporate finance, which tends to limit its investigation of a firm’s choice of financial structure (i.e., debt vs. equity) in aggregate, with no follow-on inquiry into the resultant governance structure at an individual firm or industry level. The value of the level of aggregation and abstraction in neo-classical financial theory, along with the simplifying assumptions that are usually made, lies in their potential for clarifying difficult analytic issues, but it also rules out important practical considerations which influence financial system form and functions (Neave, 1991).

DOI

10.1057/9781137514295_7

Publisher Statement

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Additional Information

This chapter is a reprint of Gong, S.X.H., Firth, M., and Cullinane, K.P.B. (2005), Choice of Financing and Governance Structures in Transport Industry: Theory and Practice. In Lee, T.W. and Cullinane, K.P.B. (Eds.), World Shipping and Port Development, New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 50–75.

ISBN of the source publication: 9781137514295

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Gong, S. X. H., Firth, M., & Cullinane, K. (2016). Choice of financing and governance structures in transport industry: Theory and practice. In P. T.-W. Lee & K. Cullinane (Eds.), Dynamic shipping and port development in the globalized economy (pp. 150-177). London: Palgrave Macmillan. doi: 10.1057/9781137514295_7

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