(1) The concept of enterprise financialization: current situation and problems. Compared with the diversified definition of financialization, enterprise financialization is in a more vague position. Although the concept of enterprise financialization has been widely used in academic and practical circles since the 2 1 century, it has never been formally defined.
Therefore, the connotation of enterprise financialization can only be found from the definition of financialization. The above definitions of financialization by Arigi, Kripner, Froude, Phillips, Dole and Ohangez can be deduced and derived. Arigi and Kripner believe that financialization is the growth of profits, which is mainly generated through financial channels rather than trade and commodity production;
Phillips and Dole believe that financialization is the dominant position of financial assets in total assets, and various capital operations (including financial transfer, risk management, enterprise restructuring, asset securitization, derivative transactions and other forms of financial packaging) steadily replace physical production (manufacturing, expansion and transportation activities);
Ohangez believes that financialization in a narrow sense refers to the changes in the relationship between NFC and financial markets, and one of these changes is the financial investment of NFC and the increase in financial benefits it brings. The above definition of enterprise financialization by western scholars reflects the connotation of enterprise financialization from different aspects:
First, the financialization of enterprises means that enterprises invest more or rely on financial markets;
Second, the changes in corporate profit sources caused by the above behaviors.
There are at least two problems with these definitions:
On the one hand, these definitions of enterprise financialization are limited to non-financial enterprises, and there are still doubts about whether there is financial enterprise financialization and how to explain it, and "a complete concept of enterprise financialization must include both financial enterprises and activities of non-financial enterprises".
On the other hand, from the narrow definition of Ohangez (this understanding is universal), the financialization of enterprises involves the increase of financial investment by non-financial companies and the increase of payment to financial markets, which are two completely different issues: one belongs to the category of capital utilization and the other belongs to the category of financing and profit distribution.
(2) The concept of enterprise financialization. Based on the above definition, we believe that we can understand and define corporate financialization from two aspects: behavior and result:
First, from the behavioral point of view, enterprise financialization is a way of resource allocation that emphasizes capital operation, which shows that enterprise assets are more used for investment than traditional production and operation activities;
Second, from the results, the financialization of enterprises means that the profits of enterprises come more from the investment and capital operation of non-production and operation businesses, and pursue pure capital appreciation rather than operating profits. The advantages of this definition are: on the one hand, it can clearly explain the process and consequences of enterprise financialization, and it is convenient to measure the degree of enterprise financialization; On the other hand, this concept is also applicable to non-financial enterprises and financial enterprises, which can overcome the defects of the aforementioned concept of enterprise financialization.