본 연구에서는 2001년부터 2010년까지 한국거래소에 상장된 401개 표본기업을 대상으로 최고 경영자의 교체가 경영성과에 미치는 영향을 분석하였다. 즉 최고경영자의 교체가 기업가치 상승이라는 시장에서 형성된 경영성과의 향상, 회계적 이익 상승이라는 경영성과의 향상으로 이어지는지를 실증분석하였다. 시장 에서의 경영성과는 시가총액으로, 회계적 성과는 총자산영업이익률과 총자산순이익률로 측정하였다. 또한 본 연구에서는 이전의 연구와는 차별적으로 패널자료를 이용한 패널자료분석법과 내생성 문제를 완화한 2단계 프로빗-MLE 모형을 연구 방법으로 사용하였다. 실증적 분석 결과, 최고경영자 교체는 시가총액에 양(+)의 영향을, 회계적 성과인 총자산영업이익률과 총자산순이익률에 대해서는 음(-)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 확인되었다. 이는 최고경영자 교체가 일반적으로 경영성과가 저조한 경우에 이루어진 경우가 많으며, 최고경영자 교체 당해 연도에는 회계적 이익 향상으로 직접 이어지지 못하나 그 이후 연도부터는 이익이 개선될 것이라는 기대가 시장에 영향을 미쳐 교체 연도의 주가상승으로 이어진 것으로 보인다. 시가총액에 대해 소유구조 관련 통제변수 중 최대주주지분율은 음(-)의 영향을, 기관투자자지분율과 외국인투자자지분율은 양(+)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 회계적 이익률에 대해서는 기관투자자지분율과 외국인투자지분율만이 양(+)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 분석되었다. 한편 부채비율은 시가총액과 회계적 이익률 모두 음(-)의 영향을, 매출액성장률은 양(+)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 기업연령은 시가총액에 대해서는 양(+)의 영향을, 회계적 이익률에 대해서는 음(-)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 분석되었다. 또한 표본기업을 중소기업, 중견기업, 그리고 대기업으로 분류하여 분석한 결과, 모두 동일하게 시가총액에는 유의적인 양(+)의 영향을, 회계적 성과에는 음(-)의 영향을 미치는 것으로 분석 되었다.
There have been many studies under the subjects of the poor corporate performance as a major factor of CEO turnover, the earning management at the time of CEO turnover, and the stock market reaction to the announcement of CEO turnover. However, few researches seem to be found on the effect of CEO turnover on corporate performance in Korea.
The purpose of this study is to analyse the effect of CEO turnover on the corporate performance in Korea. In other words, it is to analyse if CEO turnover leads to improving corporate performance in terms of an increase in corporate value and in accounting profit. The corporate performance in the stock market was measured by a total market value (CPV). The accounting performance was measured by the ratio of an operating income to total assets (ROA) and the ratio of a net income to total assets (ROE). Specially, unlike previous studies done by others, this study used the panel data analysis method to resolve the heterogeneity and the multi-collinearity problems. And 2 Stage Probit-MLE model was applied to control the endogeneity problem.
This study is conducted using 401 samples of listed companies in the Korea Stock Exchange for the period of 10 years from 2001 to 2010. In this study, the independent variable is a dummy variable where it takes the value of 1 if there is CEO turnover and 0 if otherwise. The control variables are divided between the variables related with the ownership structure (the equity ratios of the largest shareholder, institutional investors and foreign investors) and the variables related with the corporate performances (the debt ratio, the ratio of sales growth, and the age of the corporation). And the empirical analysis is applied to the fixed effect model of a panel data analysis by testing of Hausman. The CEO turnover was analysed to be affected by the existence of endogeneity on the three factors of corporate performance variables (CPV, ROA, ROE). It suggested that if the three factors are not considering the endogeneity problem in analysing, it can draw a biased conclusion.
The results of this study are as follows.
First, the CEO turnover has a significantly positive relation to the total market value. It means that the CEO turnover leads to the increase in the value of stocks.
Second, the CEO turnover has a negative effect on the accounting profits, which include the ratio of the operating income to total assets and the ration of the net income to total assets.
Third, in the control variables related with ownership structure, the equity ratio of the largest shareholder has a significantly negative effect on the total market value. But the equity ratios of institutional investors and foreign investors are positively related with it. On the other hand, the accounting performance has a significantly positive coefficient with the ratios of institutional investors and foreign investors. But the equity ratio of the largest shareholder does not a significantly affect on the accounting performance.
Fourth, the debt ratio is statistically less significant with coefficients for the total market value and the ratio of accounting profit. But the ratio of sales growth has a significantly positive effect on all the corporate performances. The age of the corporation seems to have a significantly positive effect on the total market value, but it has a negative effect on the accounting performance.
Fifth, this study separately analysed the effect of CEO turnover on corporate performance with samples classified according to the size of the firm (small, middle, and large companies). As a results, the CEO turnover has a significantly positive effect on the market value and a negative effect on the accounting profit ratios in all types of companies.
These results suggest that CEO turnover occurs in the year of a poor corporate performance and doesn't lead to improving an accounting performance at in the pertinent year. But it leads to the increase in the total market value due to the expectation that the corporate performance will improve in the following years.
Meanwhile, the limitations of this study are as follows. First, the reason for CEO turnover, whether it is taken as a voluntary action or a disciplinary measure due to the low management performance, has a different effect on a corporate performances (Fan et al., 2007; Lee et al., 2009). But this study did not consider this point. Second, an effect of CEO turnover on corporate performance will vary according to the personal characteristics or the number of CEOs. Therefore, considering these variables might produce a more sophisticated results. Third, Virany and Tushman (1986) suggested that a growth trend of industry can affect the corporate performance associated with CEO turnover. Therefore, if we conduct the study on CEO turnover with the character of the industry considered, we can expect new research results.