國際化程度與成本習性之關聯性分析

Abstract

隨著國際化之浪潮席捲全球，台灣企業欲躋身於高績效跨國企業之行列，再加上本國資源缺乏、市場狹小等因素，國際化策略為其必經之路。在追求利益最大化之時，為了編製預算、控制成本及適當評估績效，瞭解成本習性，進而獲得精確的成本資訊實為不可或缺之圭臬。近年來，成本結構之彈性與否成為新的研究方向，當企業使用較多變動成本，較少固定成本時，可稱此成本結構較為彈性； 本研究認為，當企業採行越高程度之國際化策略時，由於面對更多元且不熟悉之市場，其下方風險亦越高，較多的變動成本可協助企業快速調整成本以因應之，故較高程度之國際化公司應偏好較彈性之成本結構。另外，根據國內外研究之發現，成本動因與成本並非成等比例變動，由於資源調整成本、經理人樂觀程度與代理問題等原因，當銷貨收入上升時，費用所增加之幅度通常會大於收入下降時費用所減少之比例，此現象即為成本僵固性；本研究推論，對於企業來說，其採行愈高程度之國際化策略，代表管理階層對此策略之前景愈是樂觀，再加上越高程度的國際化投資，其資源調整成本也越高，若銷貨收入有下降之情況，由於上述原因，管理者也不會輕易裁撤資源，造成成本僵固性之情形。本研究以 1992 年至 2015 年國內上市上櫃公司為研究對象，探討企業國際化程度與成本習性之關聯，亦考量其他因素對成本習性之影響。根據實證結果發現， 銷管費用、管理費用、研發費用與營業成本皆有成本彈性之現象，且國際化程度與其有正向關係；另一方面，僅有銷管費用、研發費用與管理費用有成本僵固性之現象，且國際化策略並無對研發費用產生增額僵固性效果。本研究使用國外銷售額佔總銷售額比例與外幣換算調整數兩種國際化程度之指標，皆可支持以上結果。另外，為瞭解管理階層之代理問題對研究問題之影響，亦以獨立董事之有無做為基準來區分樣本，經研究結果顯示，不論公司是否有獨立董事，國際化程度均與成本僵固性呈顯著正向關係，顯示經理人之代理問題並不會影響經理人進行國際化程度之行為。最後，本研究區分近十年與過去之樣本，以深入探討研究問題。

With the internationalization theme sweeping across the globe, the internationalization strategy becomes an indispensable method for Taiwanese companies. By implementing this strategy, companies not only expect themselves being multinational enterprises with high quality but also can solve some problems like narrow market for so on. However, companies adopting the internationalization strategy may face some struggles such as increasing downside risk, the costs of adjustment and reacquiring resources and the attitude of managers. According to the prior research of cost behavior, these struggles can be the factors that affect the cost decision made by the management. Therefore, this study is aimed at examining the relevance between the degree of internationalization and cost behavior including cost elasticity and cost stickiness. Using a sample of listed companies of Taiwan from 1992 to 2015, I find that the degree of internationalization causes the cost more elastic and stickier. In this study, two ways of measuring the degree of internationalization are used ,and the effect of agency problem is also taken into account. My findings support the proposition that the degree of internationalization indeed affects resource management decisions made by managers. The last, in order to investigate the difference between the recent 10 years and the past, internationalization factors were grouped by years. The empirical results provide the strong evidence that the cost structure of the recent 10 years is stickier and more elastic than the past is when the both all taking the degree of internationalization into consideration. My study makes a significant contribution in understanding the relevance between the degree of internationalization and the cost behavior.