기업의 비용구조가 자본구조에 미치는 영향

This study empirically analyzes the effects of cost structure on corporate capital structure. The sample firms are selected from firms listed on the Korea Exchange from 1999 to 2015 and are classified into flexible cost structure firms and fixed cost structure ones. Cost structure is determined using the methodology of Kahl, Lunn, and Nilsson(2012) and Kulchania(2016). The main results of this study can be summarized as follows. The cost structure has positive and significant effects on the corporate capital structure, implying that the cost structure is positively related to capital structure. This result shows that firms with higher flexible costs hold higher levels of leverage. This result further shows that firms that see a change in the cost structure toward more flexible costs increase their leverage ratio. Consequently, this result implies that fixed cost structure firms have lower leverage ratios to reduce the probability of default risk. Even though controlling several characteristic variables, there are still the positive effects of cost structure on corporate capital structure. Furthermore, in the frameworks of static and dynamic capital structure, cost structure have consistently significant and positive effect on corporate capital structure. Therefore, this study implies that managers must consider cost structure as a new determinant of capital structure.