Transaction Costs and Corporate Performance: Empirical Evidence Based on China's Listed Companies

The theory of transaction costs is the basic analytical tool of the new institutional economics. However, there is a lot of argument over whether transaction costs can be measured, as well as how to measure transaction costs. This paper aims to build accounting methods for the direct measurement of transaction costs, and to provide empirical evidence for how transaction costs have effect on corporate performance. The results of statistical analysis show that the operating transaction costs have a significantly negative impact on corporate performance, while the allocating transaction costs have a significantly positive correlation with corporate performance. So the modern enterprise management should be more emphasis on transaction activities, and should change from simply pursuing the interests of shareholders towards the maintenance of suppliers, customers, shareholders, creditors, employees, the state and all other stakeholders.