• Health Policy and Management
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• v.16 no.4
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• pp.24-47
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• 2006

Based on the findings of a study focused on medical institutions(Fama & French, 2002), this study determined possible causality between determinants of capital structure and liability level, while estimating targeted debt ratio. Moreover, it also examined hypotheses about the adjustment of targeted debt ratio and the of fundraising patterns, so that it verified the relative priority of trade-off theory and pecking order theory. First, profitability had positive(+) relationships with liability level, while investment opportunities had negative(-) relationships with liability level. This finding supported pecking order theory, and non-liability tax shield effects had negative(-) relationships with liability level as estimated in both trade-off theory and pecking order theory. Next, this study verified trade-off and pecking order theory at once by means of regression analysis about the variation of liability level in associations with disparity from targeted debt ratio and short-term fluctuation of profit and investment. As a result, it was noted that liability level became mean-reversed to targeted liability ratio but slowly, SO it was difficult to assert that such mean reverse may support trade-off theory. However, the finding that most of short-term fluctuations of profit and investment are absorbed into liabilities supported pecking order theory. On the other hand, it was found that the larger scale of medical institutions is more supportive of pecking order theory in the associations between liability level and profitability and the fundraising patterns than trade-off theory.

• International Journal of Contents
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• v.5 no.1
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• pp.37-45
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• 2009

This paper empirically tests pecking order theory. Korean listed firms are used as the samples. On the whole we find supportive results for pecking order theory. The fixed effect model on the whole period shows that as pecking order theory suggests that debt ratio decreases as cash flow. ROA, physical assets, and firm size increase. Again, it is shown that corporate debt ratio significantly decreases as cash flow or ROA increases in every sub-sample, which coincides with the prediction of pecking order theory. Corporate debt ratio significantly decreases as physical assets or jinn size increases in case of the whole sample, pre-financial crisis period, and the sub-samples by q-ratio, which also supports the prediction of pecking order theory. Statistical significance of the coefficients of physical assets or firm size completely disappears after Korean financial crisis. Perhaps it is because the role of physical assets or firm size as a mitigator of information asymmetry significantly weakens after the financial crisis as Korean financial market becomes more transparent. For small firms only size variable is negatively and significantly related with debt to assets. It seems that size is an important factor for smaller firms in making financing decision.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.9
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• pp.47-57
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• 2015

Purpose - The aim of this paper is to investigate the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory (the cost of financing increases with asymmetric information) among Korean retail firms from the perspective of debt capacity. According to the Pecking-order theory, a firm's first preference is to use internal funds for its capital needs, its next preference is the issuance of debt, and its last preference is the issuance of equity; this is due to the information asymmetry problem between existing shareholders and investors. However, prior empirical studies, such as Lemmon and Zender (2010), argue that the entire sample test for the Pecking-order theory could be misleading due to the different levels of debt issuance capability of each of the individual firms; in fact, they confirm that the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory improves after taking into account the differences in debt capacity of the U.S. firms they examined. This paper implements a case study approach among Korean retail firms to examine the relationship between debt capacity and the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory in Korea. Research design, data, and methodology - This study uses the sample of public retail firms on the Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) from the time period of 1990 to 2013. We gather related financial and accounting statements from the financial information firm WISEfn. Credit rating information is provided by the Korea Investor Service. We employ the models of Lemmon and Zender (2010) and Son and Kim (2013) to measure a firm's debt capacity. Their logit models use the rating dummy variable as a dependent variable and incorporate other firm characteristics as independent variables to estimate debt capacity. To test the Pecking-order theory, we adopt variants of the financing deficit model of Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999). In the test of the Pecking-order theory, we consider all of the changes in total debt obligations, current debt obligations, and long-term debt obligations. Results - Our main contribution to the literature is our confirmation of the predicted relationship between debt capacity and the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory among Korean retail firms. The coefficients on financing deficits become greater as a firm's debt capacity improves. This is consistent with the results of Lemmon and Zender (2010). The coefficients on the square of the financing deficits are also negative for the firms in the largest debt capacity group, which is also consistent with the predictions in prior literature. Conclusions - This study takes a case study approach by examining Korean retail firms. We confirm that the Pecking-order theory explains the capital structure of retail firms more appropriately, after taking into account the debt capacity of each firm. This result suggests the importance of debt capacity consideration in the testing of the Pecking-order theory. Our result also implies that there has been a potential underestimation of the explanatory power of the Pecking-order theory in existing studies.

• Korea Journal of Hospital Management
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• v.11 no.2
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• pp.61-86
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• 2006

Based on a previous literature about hospital capital structure(Shyam- Sunder & Myers, 1999), this study attempted comparison and analysis on whether the forecast of trade-off and pecking order theory could be validated in hospital's capital structure. First, this study analyzed whether hospitals follow the priority for each capital source as suggested by pecking order theory under lack of capital running in hospital. Next, it analyzed whether debt level is regressed on the average to target debt level so as to verify the validity of trade-off theory. Finally, it also analyzed possible associations between debt level and determinants of capital structure as adopted in static trade-off theory, so as to verify relative advantages of these two theories about hospital capital structure. The analysis over whole period showed that both trade-off theory and pecking order theory isn't supported particularly. This mean that each hospital's financing behaviors is different and that has not dominant financing behaviors. In the midst of separation of dispensary from medical practice, medical institutions in Korea first finances funds required using retained earnings and then use liabilities. however pecking order theory is supported, the preference of long-term liabilities and short-term liabilities is not clear. In addition, considering that debt level is in no average regression to target debt ratio, it is found that hospital capital structure following trade-off theory turns into that subject to pecking order theory via the separation of dispensary from medical practice.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.45 no.3
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• pp.55-69
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• 2014

We try to test the pecking order theory of Korean fisheries firm's capital structure using debt capacity. At first, we estimate the debt capacity as the probability of assigning corporate bond rating from credit-rating agencies. We use logit regression model to estimate this probability as a proxy of debt capacity. The major results of this study are as follows. Firstly, we can confirm the fisheries firm's financing behaviour which issues new debt securities for financial deficit. Empirical test of SSM model indicates that the higher probability of assigning corporate bond rating, the higher the coefficient of financial deficit. Especially, high probability group follows this result exactly. Therefore, the pecking order theory of fisheries firm's capital structure applies well for high probability group which means high debt capacity. It also applies for medium and low probability group, but their significances are not good. Secondly, the most of fisheries firms in high probability group issue new debt securities for their financial deficit. Low probability group's fisheries firms also issue new debt securities for their financial deficit within the limit of their debt capacity, but beyond debt capacity they use equity financing for financial deficit. Therefore, the pecking order theory on debt capacity come into existence well in high probability group.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.12
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• pp.5663-5670
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• 2011

This study performed empirical analyses of the static trade-off theory and the pecking order theory which explain financing behavior of firms. The results of regression analyses using the data of 762 listed non-financing firms on the KOSDAQ market from 2000 to 2010 have shown mixed evidences supporting either the trade-off theory or the pecking order theory. Specifically, as the effective tax rate and the firm size increases, debt ratio increases, which is consistent with the trade-off theory. However as the growth opportunity and the profitability increases, debt ratio decreases, which is consistent with the pecking order theory.

• Management & Information Systems Review
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.89-116
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• 2012

This paper is an empirical study for the listed manufacturing companies in the Korea Stock Exchange during the sample period(2001-2010). The research is based on the target adjustment model(Shyam-Sunder and Myers(1999)) and the pecking order model(Frank and Goyal(2003)), and is aimed at reflecting the critical viewpoint of Chirinko and Singha(2000). An analysis in the model of Shyam-Sunder and Myers(1999) shows the value is too low to support the pecking order model in view of the following results. A target adjustment coefficient value is between 0 and 1, and is significant variable and explanatory power is very high, while deficit-in-funds coefficients close to 0. In addition, the result of an empirical test following the methodology used by Frank and Goyal(2003) does not support the pecking order theory.

• The Journal of Fisheries Business Administration
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.75-85
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• 2012

In this paper, we study the extent to which the pecking order theory of capital structure provides a satisfactory account of the financing behavior of Korean fisheries firms using financing deficit. The major results of this study are as follows. Firstly, we find that the financing deficit is a important factor that explains the pecking order theory of fisheries firms'capital structure. However, the financing deficit does not wipe out the effects of conventional variables. The information in the financing deficit appears to be factored in along with many other things that fisheries firms take into account. Such result is consistent with the result of Frank and Goyal(2003). Secondly, we find that profitability is only one factor explaining the capital structure of fisheries firms among conventional variables when we test the regression of leverage with financing deficit during post IMF period. This result is different from the previous researches of Korean fisheries firms. (Kang and Jeong; 1997, Nam, Lee, and Hong; 2011) Finally, we examine the dynamics of capital structure of Korean fisheries firms firstly. It will allow a more detailed analysis for capital structure determinants for Korean fisheries firms.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.12 no.9
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• pp.3827-3833
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• 2011

This paper performed empirical tests of the validity of the pecking order theory which explains financing behavior of firms under information asymmetry. The results of regression analyses using the data of listed manufacturing companies in the Korean Stock Market from 1981 to 2010 have shown strong evidences supporting the pecking order theory. Especially regression coefficients of change of debt on funds deficit and control variables were found to be almost (+1) with statistically significance, which is interpreted as being consistent with the pecking order theory. Same results were found when I performed regression analyses by dividing the sample period into pre-currency crisis period, currency crisis period and post-currency crisis period and using 2 regression models. Change of tangible asset were found to function as collateral rather than reducing information asymmetry and as the firm size decreased, use of debt increased and as profitability increased use of debt decreased, which are consistent with the pecking order theory.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.73-82
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• 2015

Purpose - This paper aims to investigate whether information asymmetry could explain capital structures in Korean corporations. According to Myers (1984), firms prefer internal funding to external financing due to the costs associated with information asymmetry. When external financing is necessary, firms prefer to issue debt rather than equity by the same reasoning. Since Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999), numerous studies continue to debate the validity of the theory. In this paper, we show how the theory depends on assumptions and incorporated variables. We hope our investigation can provide helpful implications regarding capital structure, information asymmetry, and other firm characteristics. Specifically, our empirical results are complementary to the analysis of Son and Lee's (2015), a recent study that examines the pecking order theory prediction for Korean retail firms. Research design, data, and methodology - We test empirical models that are some variants of model used in Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999). The financial and accounting data are provided by WISEfn for the firms listed on the KOSPI during 1990 to 2013. Bond ratings are supplied by the Korea Investor Service (KIS). We take into account the heterogeneity in debt capacity; a firm's debt capacity is measured by using the method of Lemmon and Zender (2010) based on its bond ratings. Finally, we estimate empirical models suggested by Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999), Frank and Goyal (2003), and Lemmon and Zender (2010). Results - First, we find that Shyam-Sunder and Myers' (1999) prediction fails to explain total debt changes of Korean firms. Second, we find a non-monotonic relationship between total debt changes and financial deficits with respect to debt capacity. This contradicts the prediction of Lemmon and Zender (2010) that argues the pecking order theory survives with a monotonically increasing relationship. Third, we estimate a negative correlation coefficient between financial deficit and current debt changes. The result is the complete opposite of the prediction of Lemmon and Zender (2010). Finally, we also confirm the non-monotonic relationship between non-current debt changes and financial deficits with respect to debt capacity. Yet, the slope of coefficient is smaller than that of total debt change case. Indeed, the results are, to some extent, consistent with the prediction of pecking order theory, if we exclude the mid-debt capacity firms. Conclusions - Our empirical results complementary to the analysis of Son and Lee (2015), a recent study focusing on capital structure in Korean retail firms; their paper suggests interesting topics regarding capital structure, information asymmetry, and other firm characteristics in Korean corporations. Contrary to Son and Lee (2015), our results show that total debt changes and current debt changes are inconsistent with the prediction of Shyam-Sunder and Myers (1999). However, similar to Son and Lee (2015), non-current debt changes are consistent with the pecking order prediction, in the case of excluding the mid-level debt capacity firms. This contrast allows us to infer that industry characteristics significantly affect the validity of the pecking order prediction. Further studies are needed to analyze the economics behind this phenomenon, which is beyond the scope of our paper. In addition, the estimation bias potentially matters regarding the firm-level debt capacity calculation. We also reserve this topic for future research.