探討企業廣告費用支出因素

Abstract

本篇論文研究目的為探討企業廣告費用的支出因素。廣告為企業行銷的重要工具，透過投資廣告，可以為企業帶來短期及長期上銷售及利潤的增加。然而，影響各個企業廣告支出決策的因素可能不盡相同，進而影響到其對廣告投資的金額也會有所不同。過往研究影響企業廣告費用支出的因素可以分成三大面向來分析: 企業財務資源、競爭、及經濟。本篇假設企業的廣告費用和毛利率呈現正向相關；和企業是否為最佳品牌呈現正向相關；以及企業廣告費用和企業特性間的關係會受到經濟狀況的影響。實證結果顯示，毛利率以及最佳品牌與廣告費用的關係呈現正向相關，符合預期；不過在交乘項變數方面，只有自由現金流量、財務槓桿以及毛利率和企業廣告費用的關係會受到經濟狀況影響，推測是因為這些變數對於經濟環境的變動反應較敏感的緣故。此外，在子樣本方面，高廣告密度的樣本和整體樣本的結果相符合，提供了穩健及更為攸關的結果。

This study examines the determinants of advertising expenditures. Advertising is the most important tool in the marketing of products and services; the spending on advertising is considered to be a profitable investment that reaps profits both in the long and short run. Nevertheless, the level of spending on advertising differs between companies. First, I summarize the outcomes of related research which study on the determinants of advertising expenditures from three perspectives: financial resources, competition and economy. Second, I hypothesize that advertising expenditures are positively associated with gross profit ratio and being a best global brand. In addition, I hypothesize that the relation between advertising expenditures and company-specific factors is affected by economic growth. I find that advertising expenditures are positively associated with gross profit ratio and being a best global brand. However, with respect to interactive variables, I find that only the relation between advertising expenditures and free cash flow, financial leverage and gross profit ratio are affected by economic growth. These results may suggest that these variables are more sensitive to economic fluctuation. Finally, in the subsample analysis, I find that the result of high advertising intensity sample is consistent with that of whole sample, suggesting that the results are not sensitive to an alternative restriction on sample.