판매관리비 지출의 고정비 비중에 따른 원가 비대칭성 분석

This paper investigates the effect of operating leverage on cost asymmetry in selling, general, and administrative (SG&A) expenses for firms listed on the Korea Stock Exchange. SG&A costs increase by 0.687% when sales increase by 1%, while SG&A costs decrease by 0.507% when sales decrease by 1%, implying that SG&A costs are sticky. Among the main components of SG&A costs, I find that research and development (R&D) costs do not exhibit asymmetry in response to changes in revenue, while advertising costs show elastic (or anti-sticky) behavior and labor costs display sticky behavior in response to changes in revenue. This suggests that Korean listed firms make decisions to significantly reduce advertising costs when their business conditions deteriorate due to a decrease in sales compared to the previous year, while reducing labor costs slightly. Furthermore, I find that the sticky behavior of SG&A costs becomes stronger as operating leverage increases. This result aligns with the hypothesis of managerial expectation that managers who are optimistic about the future demands may avoid or minimize the reduction of SG&A costs even during periods of declining sales, in order to magnify operating profit through operating leverage when demands recover in the future. Korean listed firms tend to adjust advertising costs more flexibly compared to R&D and labor costs when faced with declining sales. However, this flexibility in adjusting advertising costs is notable only when the proportion of fixed costs within SG&A expenses is low. In cases where fixed costs constitute a significant portion, firms are more likely to maintain advertising costs to amplify operating profit in anticipation of future demand recovery.