Vertical equity ownership, knowledge management and voluntary product information disclosure

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate how the vertical equity ownership of sup-ply chain partners (customers and suppliers) affects voluntary product information disclosure of investee firms from a knowledge management perspective. The authors examine whether equity ties shift product-related knowledge exchange from public to private channels. Design/methodology/approach Using textual data from the Management’s Discussion and Analysis (MD&A) sections of Chinese A-share listed companies’ annual reports, the study constructs measures of product disclosures. A matched data set of 42,230 firm-year observations linking firms’ major suppliers/customers and shareholders is considered through panel data regression. Findings Vertical equity ownership is associated with lower voluntary product information disclosure. The authors interpret this as evidence that equity ties reconfigure firms’ knowledge boundaries by strengthening private knowledge-sharing channels and in-creasing incentives to protect proprietary knowledge from broader market audiences. The negative association is weaker when firms have alternative private knowledge channels or face stronger financing constraints, and stronger for knowledge-intensive themes. Practical implications Regulators should strengthen legal frameworks for improving transparency and mitigating restraint on strategic intelligence. Firms should balance protection of proprietary knowledge with collaboration and dissemination of information to improve resilience in the supply chain. Originality/value This paper contributes to knowledge management by theorizing vertical equity ownership as a hybrid governance form between market exchange and hierarchy. It conceptualizes voluntary product disclosure as the externalization of codified product knowledge and shows how ownership ties reshape the balance between knowledge sharing, protection and appropriation across organizational boundaries.