Corporate Resiliency and the Choice Between Financial and Operational Hedging

We investigate how firms manage financial default risk (on debt) and operational default risk (on delivery obligations). Financially constrained firms reduce operational hedging through inventory and supply chain in favor of cash holdings. Our model predicts that firms’ markup increases with financial default risk as they cut operational hedging costs. Empirical analysis confirms this prediction and shows that the markup-credit risk relationship strengthens during adverse aggregate shocks, particularly for firms exposed to lending disruptions. Market power alone cannot explain this relationship, which reflects firms’ strategic adjustments in operational hedging practices.