Capital Structure in Vietnam's Pharma Sector
Capital Structure in Vietnam's Pharma Sector
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All content following this page was uploaded by Oanh T.K Nguyen on 02 July 2023.
Nguyen Van Dinh1, Nguyễn Thị Kim Oanh 1, Bui Thi Minh Huyen2
1
Vietnam National University, Hanoi - International School
2
Vietnam National University, Hanoi - Vietnam Japan University
*
Corresponding author: oanhntk@[Link]
Abstract
This study investigates factors associated with the capital structure of pharmaceutical companies listed on Vietnam stock
exchanges using secondary data from financial statements, annual reports, and management reports published from
2010 to 2019. We focus on firm characteristics (profitability, growth opportunity, tangible assets, liquidity, firm size and
firm age) and corporate governance (pluralist executives). We find that profitability, tangible assets, and liquidity have
negative correlations with debt ratio. Firm size, firm age and pluralist executives are negatively associated with debt
ratio, but not statistically significant. In contrast, growth opportunities have a positive relationship with capital
structure. The findings bring insights into capital structure of listed pharmaceutical firms in Vietnam, which would useful
for investors who are interested in pharmaceutical firms listed in Vietnam.
Keywords: Capital structure, debt ratio, leverage, firm age, pluralist executives, pharmaceutical firms
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through imports. In 2018, Vietnam's pharmaceutical company with a high growth opportunity has high
imports nearly 2.8 billion USD; this level continues to demand to borrow when the retained earnings are not
increase by 10% in 2019. Vietnam is also highly enough to meet the firm's demand. In contrast, high
dependent on imported pharmaceutical raw materials, profitability will allow companies to have more
mainly from China with more than 60% of demand. conditions to retain more profit, so they will use less
debt.
Second, prior empirical studies on determinants of
capital structure used a different set of independent and The agency theory was completed by Jensen and
dependent variables show contradictory results Vo Meckling (1976) and it explains the relationship
(2017). Even though research on factors affecting the between principal and agent. This theory shows the
capital structure of pharmaceutical listed companies has growth rate is negatively correlated with debt because
been done in some developing countries (Saeed et al, shareholders often do not want to share benefits with
2014; Imtiaz et al., 2016), there is no study conducted creditors when the firm grows well. Agency theory
on the capital structure of the pharmaceutical industry in suggest that firm size has a positive impact on the debt.
Vietnam in recent years. Therefore, this study will Large companies choose to borrow more than small
investigate factors impacting capital structure of ones because the terms in the loan agreement will
pharmaceutical listed firms in the last 10 years, from control managers’ behaviors, which is rooted in
2010 to 2019. conflicts between shareholders and managers.
2. LITERATRURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES The conflicts between ownership and management lead
to a link between corporate governance and capital
2.1 Theoretical background structure of the firms through the agency cost (Nazir,
Aslam and Nawaz, 2012; Berger, Ofek and Yermack,
1997; Friend and Lang, 1988; Wen, Rwegasira and
Modigliani and Miller (1958) introduced the first theory
Bilderbeek, 2002). If CEO is the chairman of the board
of capital structure laying foundation for later theories.
referred as pluralist executives or CEO duality, he will
That is, all the way of combinations of equity and
liabilities are the same in a perfectly competitive market increase the power of the CEO to help make decisions
with no tax. According to Bradley, Jarrell and Kim quickly and ensure decisions are implemented. However,
this duality causes management disfunction since the
(1984) “At any financial option, whether using equity or
CEO will act to achieve his goals, not the shareholders'.
choosing short-term or long-term debt, the value of the
As such, managers may not always accept leverage
business is unchanged”. Modigliani and Miller (1963)
choices that are maximizing value for shareholders.
suggest effect of corporate tax: the value of the levered
company is higher than value of unlevered company Instead, managers may tend to select the leverage
because of benefits from the tax shield. degree that maximizes their own benefits.
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H1: Profitability is negatively associated with debt ratio lending to larger firms because such firms are seen to
have lower levels of risks (Rajan and Zingales, 1995).
Growth opportunity and Debt ratio: Based on the This opinion was supported by a lot of empirical studies
trade-off theory, the firms which have larger growth in the world including Abor (2007); Ahmed Sheikh and
opportunities usually maintain a lower debt ratio Wang (2011); Saeed et al. (2014). In Vietnam, the
because the risk level may be high with growth-oriented positive relationship between the size of firms and
investment. Besides, firms with growth opportunities capital structure was also proved in the research of Tran
like holding intangible assets which cannot be collateral, and Ramachandran (2006). Based on the trade-off
so they tend to use less debt. Therefore, according to the theory and the results of previous empirical research, we
trade-off theory, there is a negative relationship between hypothesize that:
growth opportunities and capital structure (Myers, 1984;
Deesomsak, Paudyal and Pescetto, 2004). Some H3: The size of firms is positively associated with debt
researches supported for this opinion are Saeed et al. ratio
(2014); Imtiaz, Mahmud and Mallik (2016). Similarly,
agency theorists point out that the high growth rate also Tangible assets and Debt ratio: As stated by Myers
means positive business results so the shareholders do (1984), there is a link between tangible assets and
not want to share this advantage with the creditors, and financial leverage due to the fact that companies with
then they will use less debt (Zou and Xiao, 2006; Eriotis lots of collaterals will have a low rate in the matter of
et al., 2007). asymmetric information. Frank and Goyal (2009)
claimed that it is evident that if the company has
In contrast, the pecking order theory suggest that mortgage loans, the borrower's risk associated with the
companies with good growth opportunities have more cost of the loan will also decrease. This argument is also
demands for borrowing capital, especially when supported by empirical studies (e.g. Huang and Song,
retained earnings are not enough for operating. In this 2006; Titman and Wessels, 1988). Based on trade-off
situation, firms will have the priority to choose theory, tangible assets have a positive relationship with
borrowed capital to increase the debt ratio because the capital structure because enterprises which have the
cost of flotation in selling stock is more than the cost of larger number of tangible assets usually receive
issuing debt. The empirical studies supported for this liabilities with the quite more convenient condition than
opinion include Vo (2017); Pham and Nguyen (2015); the ones with the smaller number of tangible assets due
Tran and Ramachandran (2006). The relationship to the fact that it looks like a positive sign for creditors.
between growth opportunity and debt ratio is stated as Tangible assets can have an influence on the decision of
follows: a company to borrow money because tangible assets are
more valuable than intangible assets in case the firm is
H2: Growth opportunity is positively associated with bankrupt. Besides, the level of risk will decrease when
debt ratio the company provides tangible assets to mortgage and
creditors can require to sell these assets in case the
Firm size and Debt ratio: According to pecking-order company cannot pay. Therefore, tangible assets are
theory, larger firms will have fewer problems related to good-mortgaged assets for the debt. Empirical studies
information asymmetric, they will tend to use equity to supported this opinion including Saeed et al. (2014);
finance firm activities. It means that firm size has a Frank and Goyal (2009); Titman and Wessels (1988).
negative impact on capital structure. Chen (2004) also
showed the negative relationship between firm size and Agency theory, in contrast, suggest a negative
long-term leverage ratio. However, agency theorists relationship between tangible assets and debt ratio.
point out that due to the conflict between shareholders Firms with fewer collateral assets can use more debt to
and managers, larger companies choose to borrow more prevent managers from the optimal levels of perquisites
because the terms in the loan agreement will control the (e.g. Ahmed Sheikh and Wang, 2011; Booth et al., 2001;
behavior of the manager (e.g. Deesomsak et al., 2004; Titman and Wessels, 1988; Sayilgan et al., 2006). In
Eriotis et al., 2007; Serrasqueiro and Roga˜o, 2009). Vietnam, a study from Tran and Ramachandran (2006)
also found out this negative relationship. Therefore,
As implied in trade-off theory, large-sized companies based on the previous empirical studies as well as the
can borrow more capital than small-sized enterprises. trade-off theory, we hypothesize that:
Small-sized firms have to bear a higher cost than the
large-sized ones to have external capital (Titman and H4: Tangible assets is positively associated with debt
Wessels, 1988). Therefore, the large firms are more ratio.
convenient than the small ones to enter the capital
market which shows that there is a positive relationship Liquidity and Debt ratio: Liquidity ratio may have
between debt ratio and the size of firms. Another reason mixed effect to leverage of the firm (Vo, 2017). Based
is that bigger firms are more diversified and thus they on the trade-off theory, enterprises with high liquidity
will have a lower variance of profit and can get tax usually maintain a higher debt ratio because they can
benefits from debt, making them able to endure a higher ensure obligations of a contract on time, which shows a
cost of debt than smaller firms. Besides, lenders prefer positive relationship between liquidity and capital
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structure. However, as implied in the pecking order relationship between pluralist executives and the use of
theory, enterprises usually have a priority to use internal debt (e.g. Abor, 2007; Pindado and De La Torre, 2011).
funding from retained earnings rather than external Other studies found no significant impact of CEO
funding. Therefore, if firms are able to make higher duality on capital structure (Jaradat, 2015; Saeed et al.,
retained earnings, their demand for external funding will 2014). In Vietnam pharmaceutical industry context,
not be important when their assets are enough to be used recently, many domestic and foreign investors have
for investing. This shows that there is a negative invested in Vietnamese pharmaceutical companies, so to
relationship between liquidity and debt ratio. The fund their activities, companies will use capital from
empirical studies proved this opinion including new investors and shareholders instead of using debt.
Deesomsak et al. (2004); Ahmed Sheikh and Wang Moreover, according to agency theory, shareholders do
(2011); Saeed et al. (2014). Therefore, based on the not want to share benefits with creditors, the CEO as a
pecking order theory and some empirical studies, we chairman will use less debt to avoid the risk of
hypothesize that: bankruptcy, loss of benefits, and loss of their control. we
hypothesize that:
H5: Liquidity is negatively associated with debt ratio
H7: Pluralist executive is negatively associated with
Firm age and Debt ratio: Firm age refers to the number debt ratio
of years from the firm’s initial public offering of
common stock until now (Oliner and Rudebusch, 1992). 3. RESEARCH MODEL, MESUREMENT AND
Based on the trade-off theory, the profits of younger DATA COLLECTION
firms may be small to pay for the cost of debt and may
not be useful to utilize the tax benefits of debt, it means
that they gave the research result that firm age has a 3.1 Research model
positive relationship with the leverage ratio. Chen and
Strange (2005) also supported this opinion. Besides, This study employs linear regression model to test the
Diamond (1989) also pointed out that the older listed hypotheses between capital structure and its
companies have a reputation and debt repaying history determinants (Figure 3.1). The debt ratio is dependent
will be easier to finance their company at a lower cost. variable. The independent variables consist of
In contrast, the pecking order theory showed that older Profitability, Growth opportunity, Firm size, Tangible
companies will use less debt than younger companies assets, Liquidity, Firm age, and Pluralist Executives.
because these older companies have more time to attract,
collect and accumulate funds. To support pecking order
theory, researches from Hall et al. (2000); Kieschnick
and Moussawi (2018) found out that firm age has a
negative relationship with the leverage ratio. According
to pecking order theory and previous researches, I
hypothesize that:
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Table 3.1: Variables measurement
2018 48.69% 3.49% 47.83%
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meaning because P-value = 0.7281 > 0.05. This result is
suitable with the pecking order theory suggests that
asymmetric information in large-sized companies is less
than the small – sized ones because the big companies
usually have the tendency to provide information for
external investors. Therefore, they usually prefer using
equity to debt (Titman and Wessel, 1988; Chen 2004).
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control. However, because P-value = 0.1721 > 0.05 so limitation of data collection and processing is the
the plural executives do not have the statistical meaning estimation of financial data generated entirely from
in this regression model. Therefore, H7 is not supported. financial statements of companies which means that
asset value or debts are calculated by book value
5. CONCLUSIONS, IMPLICATIONS AND without considering their market value. This study has
LIMITATIONS limitations but may suggest rooms for further researches
in this area. The results of the study can be improved by
adding new explanatory variables or expanding the
5.1 Conclusions
research time period.
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