가중평균자본비용이 기업규모별 투자활동에 미치는 영향: 2008년 금융위기 전후 비교 분석

Other things being constant, investment activity is positively influenced by the cost of capital. Firm size is expected to affect the relationship between the cost of capital and investment activity. Small and medium sized firms, which are relatively old and mature, put more emphasis on the weighted cost of capital(WACC) when making investment decisions. On the other hand, large firms go beyond WACC to include other factors such as cash flow from operation, return on asset, and etc. It is also meaningful to explore whether the global financial crisis caused by sub-prime mortgage in 2008 induces the structural change on the firm's cost of capital and investment. After the crisis, small and medium sized firms emphasis on the WACC when making investment decisions. However Before the crisis, small and medium sized firms were not included in WACC, when making investment decision. Also, large firms paid little regard to WACC when before and after the crisis. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effects of firm size and the global financial crisis in 2008 on the relationship between WACC and investment expenditure. The sample includes 4,540 firm-year observations of KOSDAQ and KOSPI in the period of 2003～2013. We classify the sample into large and small firms and the sample period into before and after the financial crisis. The important empirical findings of this study are summarized as follows, First, there is significant different in the effect of cost of capital on small and medium sized firms investment between before the crisis and after the crisis. In case of small and medium sized firms, which are operated in the after crisis, the higher the cost of capital the higher the investment expenditure. However such positive relation is not observed in small and medium sized firms, which are business at the before the financial crisis, as other factors affecting investment are more important than WACC. Second, we do not find any significant relationship between WACC and investment activity for large firms before and after the financial crisis.