기업분할 결정요인은 무엇인가?- 한국의 기업분할을 중심으로 -

This paper analyzes the factors influencing divestiture decision -making with priority given to the corporate divestiture in Korea. The determinants of divestiture by type are also analyzed. The determinants of corporate divestiture are analyzed by using a logit model, while a multinomial logit model is employed in analyzing the determinants of divestiture by type. To analyze the determinants of corporate divestiture, this paper examines the corporate characteristics of firms being divested, from one to three years before which firms are divested. Comparing the characteristics of firms being divested with those of firms belonging to the same industry and the same securities market. It is found that there is a great possibility that the system of corporate divestiture in Korea may be utilized for the purpose of preventing the decrease of sales while reducing the number of workers employed at a large-scale firm or at an old-fashioned firm. Poor corporate performance just before the occurrence of corporate divestiture, however, turns out not to affect its decision. The estimation results of the logit model show that divestiture is affected by firm’s size and history, whereas labor growth rate and sales growth rate show a clear change with the approach of the divestiture. The growth rate of sales two years before divestiture is found to be lower than that of non-divested firms. At the one-year point before divestiture, however, the growth rate of sales between divested and non-divested firms shows no significant difference. These results suggest that firms with poor records of sales are likely to exploit a divestiture in order to prevent the decrease of growth. Labor growth rate at the two-year point prior to divestiture shows no significant difference between divested and non-divested firms. At the one-year point before divestiture, on the other hand, labor growth rate of the former turns out to be significantly lower than that of the latter. It can thus be inferred from these findings that the firms are likely to make use of the divestiture system for the purpose of corporate restructuring. The ratio of cash-flow to sales turns out to be insignificantly positive at the one-year point before divestiture. It appears that poor performance does not serve as a determinant of divestiture. The analysis on corporate divestiture by type shows that it is slightly more likely for spin-offs and for corporate-focused(cross -industry) divestiture to take place for corporate restructuring and for preventing the decrease of sales. The change of coefficient for the rates of sales growth and labor growth are clear in the spin-offs and the corporate-focused divestiture. In addition, this paper analyzed the cumulative abnormal returns around the divestiture disclosure to find whether divestiture decrease the information asymmetry problem in capital market. Around the disclosure(from 1 day before the disclosure to 1 day after the disclosure), there are significant cumulative abnormal returns. And, it is clearer in the spin-off and same-industry divestiture type. The system of corporate divestiture in Korea appears to have attained its original purpose, to some extent, in that it reduces inefficiency of corporate management and stimulates improvement in corporate competitiveness and expansion of the foundation for growth. In the future, all efforts must be made to find ways to ameliorate the function of corporate divestiture as a means of corporate restructuring, as well as of business strategy for which firms smoothly cope with changes in the business environment.