(Capital Structure and the Characteristics of Customers)

Abstract

Chinese Abstract: 本研究探討公司的資本結構與其下游公司特性的關係，以臺灣上市製造業公司為研究樣本，研究期間為2009年至2010年。實證結果發現，下游廠商的研發費用越多以及給員工的薪酬越多，代表專屬投資程度越大，公司負債水準就越低；下游廠商集中度越高，公司就必須提高負債比率以增加議價能力。因此，資本結構不只取決於公司本身特性、與同業競爭狀況，甚至和下游廠商的特性有關係。English Abstract: This paper investigates the interactions between the characteristics of customers and firms’ capital structure. Using Taiwanese industrial firms as a sample, we provide evidence that there is negative relationship between firms’ debt ratio and the relation-specific investment of their customers. We also find that the debt ratio increases with the concentration of the customer industry. These findings suggest that capital structure depends not only on the characteristics of the firm itself, but on the characteristics of its stakeholders like customers.