As the 4th industrial revolution with development of information and communication technology advances, the importance of investment in intangible assets is increasing. Korean distribution companies, which have been relatively sluggish in investment in intangible assets compared to manufacturing companies, are also expanding their investment in intangible assets, such as logistics system, platform business, big data analysis and artificial intelligence. The impact of such intangible assets on firm value may vary across industries, because intangible assets of distribution companies have different characteristics from manufacturing sector companies and other service sector companies. The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of investment activities related to intangible assets, R&D, advertising, and human capital on the market value of distribution companies listed on the KOSDAQ market. In particular, the paper explores the impact of efficiency and intensity of such investment activities on the market value of distribution companies, as measured by the market price to book value ratio (PBR). To examine the effect of efficiency and intensity of investments on PBR, a research model is derived as follows: (1)PBR=ROE×PER (2)ROE=ERB=ERSALE×SALERD×RDB×BADV×ADVSALE×SALEAIT×AITB×BHM×HMSALE×SALETAN×TANTA×TAB where ER : Net Income B : Book Value SALE : Revenues RD : R&D Expenditure ADV : Advertising Expenditure AIT : Intangible Fixed Asset such as patent, license, and trademark HM : Expenditure related to salary, incentive, education&training, fringe benefit TAN : Tangible Asset TA : Total Asset PBR in equation (1) can be expressed in terms of ROE and PER. Using the DuPont system of analysis, ROE can be further broken down into trunover (efficiency) ratios and intensity ratios for R&D, advertising, intangibles, and human capital, as shown in equation (2). Inserting equation (2) into equation (1), substituting the operating profit growth rate (OPERt−OPERt−1OPERt−1) for PER, equation (1) can be written, after taking the logarithm, as follows: (3)log(PBR)=a+b1log(ERSALE)+b2log(SALERD)+b3log(RDB)+b4log(BADV)+b5log(ADVSALE)+b6log(SALEAIT)+b7log(AITB)+b8log(BHM)+b9log(HMSALE)+b10log(SALETAN)+b11log(TANTA)+b12log(TAB)+b13log(OPERt−OPERt−1OPERt−1)+e Equation (3) is estimated by using panel regression analysis. The sample used for this study is consisted of companies in the "Wholesale and Retail Industry" section of the Korea Standard Industrial Classification (KSIC), which were listed on the KOSDAQ market from 2009 to 2019. The total number of sample observations is 1,010. The results show that the intensity of investment in intangible assets held by distribution companies increases the market value of firms, indicating that the size of intangible assets is an important factor determining the market value of firms. In the case of R&D and advertising expenditures, their turnover ratios, rather than their intensity ratios, are important factors in determining the market value, indicating that investors value the investment efficiency more than the investment intensity. On the other hand, there is no significant relation between the investment on human resources and the market value of distribution companies. Table 1 Result of Pannel Regression Analysis Variables Prediction Estimated Coefficient t-value Pr > |t| Intercept 1.296 8.73 <.0001 log(ERSALE) -0.088 -2.53 0.012 log(SALERD) + 0.021*** 2.49 0.013 log(RDB) + -2.943 -3.72 0.000 log(ADVB) - -0.045 -0.12 0.905 log(SALEADV) - -0.010* -1.40 0.163 log(SALEAIT) + -0.013 -1.33 0.185 log(AITB) + 1.776*** 6.54 <.0001 log(HMB) - 0.058 0.34 0.737 log(SALEHM) - -0.027 -0.71 0.481 log(SALETAN) -0.037 -1.70 0.090 log(TANTA) -0.981 -3.98 <.0001 log(BTA) -0.126 -1.00 0.315 log(OPERt−OPERt−1OPERt−1) -0.031 -1.29 0.197 R2 0.12 Housman test for random effect m Pr > m 23.29 0.0383 ***,**,* Note) Significant at the level of 1%, 5%, and 10%, respectively(one-tailed test) This study is meaningful in that it empirically analyzes the relevance of the investment in intangible assets and the market value of distribution company, which has not been empirically studied in existing literature. This study also shows that the DuPont analysis provides practical implications in that it analyzes the effectiveness of investments and their impact on the valuation of distribution companies listed on the KOSDAQ market.
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