獨立董事是否能提升上市電子業公司之經營績效？

Abstract

董事會是公司治理之關鍵所在，強化董事會獨立性，引進獨立董事制度是各國為改善公司治理機制之重要手段 本研究分別以2006年至2010年臺灣上市電子業公司為研究對象，研究其有無設置獨立董事對公司短期、中期、長期經營績效之影響，本研究為避免產業及公司規模差異影響，並以證交所電子業子產業分類及總資產規模進行樣本公司逐一配對後分析。 本研究再將2006年至2010年臺灣上市電子業公司已設置獨立董事公司分群，分析強制設置獨立董事且合於法令規定席次比例公司、強制設置獨立董事且高於法令規定席次比例公司及自願設置獨立董事公司在短期、中期及長期經營績效是否有顯著差異。 本研究發現： 一、 有設置獨立董事公司在短期、中期及長期經營績效上，皆顯著較未設置獨立董事公司為佳。 二、 本研究初探強制設置獨立董事公司不論其席次是否合於或高於法令規定席次比例，僅在短期經營績效部份指標之少數年度(2009年度及2010年度)顯著高於自願設置獨立董事公司，在中期及長期經營績效上，則無顯著差異。 本研究實證結果顯示，設置獨立董事公司較未設置獨立董事公司經營績效為佳，獨立董事制度對公司經營績效有其正面之影響，期望本研究之研究結果，可為企業及主管機關在推行獨立董事制度時之參考。

The board of directors (the “Board”) is key to corporate governance. Enhancing the independence of the Board and introducing independent directors into the Board is a key mechanism for countries across the world to improve corporate governance. This study is to assess the impact over short-term, mid-term and long-term financial performance between companies that have and have not set-up independent directors by focusing on Taiwan’s listed companies in the electronic industry between 2006 and 2010. To avoid the impact of industry specific factors and the impact due to difference in the scale of companies, sample companies in this study are selected, matched and analyzed based on industry sub-group in the electronic industry category of the Taiwan Stock Exchange as well as the scale of total assets of companies selected for study. This study further classified listed companies that had set-up independent directors between 2006 and 2010 into different sub-groups in order to assess whether there is any significant variance over short-term, mid-term and long-term financial performance between companies that (1) mandatorily set-up independent directors and met the ratio of seats (of independent directors) as required by law; (2) mandatorily set-up independent directors with the ratio of seats exceeded those required by law; and (3) set-up independent director voluntarily. This study has concluded that: (1). the short-term, mid-term and long-term financial performance for Companies with independent directors significantly exceeded those without independent directors. (2). the preliminary finding of this study identified that in some of the years under study (i.e. 2009 and 2010), part of the short-term financial performance indicators for companies who set-up independent directors mandatorily (regardless the ratio of seats met or exceeded the statutory requirements) significantly exceeded those who set-up independent directors voluntarily. No significant variance was identified for mid-term and long-term financial performance. This study has confirmed that the financial performance for companies that have set-up independent directors exceeded those that did not set-up independent directors. It is expected that the results of this study may be used as a reference for companies and the regulators to implement the mechanism of independent directors.