earticle

영어

The study addresses one of the contemporary and essential topics in modern finance, examining the financial determinants of corporate capital structure, the impact of which can be essential for a company to continue operating as a going concern. Domestic companies have been continuously implementing policies to control or adjust for target capital structure to maximize profits at the macro or corporate level. In the Korean capital market, there is relatively little research to compare one another for financial characteristics of the leverage ratio, based on firms headquartered in each separate province. In the study, KOSDAQ-listed sample firms in two particular regions such as Chungcheong province and Busan-Kyoungsang province are empirically compared with the counterparts in Seoul-Metropolitan area as control group. As with the other regions in the domestic market, the former province (Chungcheong) is actively transitioning to a new socioeconomic environments inclusive of financial area. The latter province (Busan-Kyoungsang), as the second largest provincial area, has traditionally hosted large economic and financial activities. As for the empirical research setting of the study, extensive econometric methodologies are applied to test three hypotheses over the sample period from 2011 to 2020 (a 10-year period). In comparison with those in Seoul Metropolitan area, profitability, the proportion of tangible assets to total assets and the establishment history of KOSDAQ-listed firms in the high-tech sector in Chungcheong Province are found to be high, while companies in Busan-Kyoungsang province are detected to be large in firm size, growth potential and dividend payout. Even if futher extended research is warranted to investigate financial components of corporate leverage in the other regions, the results may be used as a financial catalyst to control or adjust capital structure, which will maximize firm value from the perspective of corporate shareholders.