全球多角化和全球資本市場進步關係之實證研究

Abstract

利用從1979年至2005年，總共62,832筆公司年資料為樣本，本研究證實了全球多角化的折價程度與全球資本市場的進步程度呈現正相關。意即當全球資本市場隨著時間而逐漸進步時，全球多角化的折價程度也會隨之增加。對於這樣的現象，我們所提出的解釋為：當全球資本市場進步時，將會降低公司與資本市場的資訊不對稱程度，因而降低公司的資金成本，減少公司投資不足的問題。這樣一來，透過全球多角化形成內部資本市場的好處，便會隨之下降，造成全球多角化的折價程度增加。 樣本的挑選條件與研究方法主要來自Berger & Ofek (1995)與 Denis & Denis (2002)這兩篇論文。我們將樣本歸類為全球多球化公司，只要公司有海外營收。由於Denis & Denis (2002)的論文中證實了，全球多角化與國內產業多角化之間存在相互影響關係。因此為了控制這因素，我們將樣本依據其是否具備多重國內部門與是否具備海外營收，這兩個面向來加以分類，最後分成四類：國內未多角化、僅國內多角化、兼具國內多角化與全球多角化、僅全球多角化。總結來說，根據我們的實證結果，全球資本市場的進步程度也是全球多角化折價程度的決定因素之一。

Using a sample of 62,832 firm-years between 1979 and 2005, I document a positive relationship between global diversification discount and global capital markets improvement. In other words, we find that when global capital market improves gradually over time, the extent of global diversification discount would increase. The reason we mention is that improvement of global capital market would reduce the extent of information asymmetry between borrowers and lenders and lower one firm’s external financing costs. Thus, importance of internal capital market would decline due to possibility of underinvestment problem decline as well. Sample selection and methodology in this paper mainly follows Berger and Ofek (1995) and Denis and Denis (2002). We classify a firm as globally diversified if it has any sales from foreign segments. From Denis and Denis (2002) studies, we find that there is an interaction between industrial diversification and global diversification. To control this factor to ensure our results more precisely, we separate our samples into four diversification types. We separate our sample on the basis of whether one firm is globally or industrially diversified in that year. A firm is classified as multi-segment or industrial diversification if they report more than one segment. Besides, one firm is classified as multinational or global diversification if they have any foreign sales. In sum, according to our results, improvement of global capital market is also an important determinant of global diversification discount.