在不同生命週期下董事會組成特性對公司經營績效之影響

The Relationship between Characteristics of Board Directors and a Firm's Performance: A Test of the Life Cycle Hypothesis

本研究探討在不同的生命週期下，董事會組成特性對公司經營績效是否有不同程度的影響，以1996年到2007年間台灣上市櫃公司資料進行實證分析。本文參考Anthony and Ramesh（1992）的方法，將銷貨成長率、資本支出率、公司成立年度以及綜合指標做為生命週期判斷因子。實證結果發現企業處於成長階段，董事長兼總經理對公司績效有正向影響，但在成熟與衰退階段，則有負向影響。外部董事比率對於處在成長期之公司績效的影響並不顯著，而對處於成熟期與衰退期的公司績效則有正向的影響。董事規模在各生命週期階段對公司績效皆為負向的影響，尤其在成長期更為明顯。董事持股比率與公司績效有正向關聯，在成熟期與衰退期階段，提升公司績效之效果較為顯著。股份控制權偏離盈餘分配權的程度與公司績效有負向關連，尤其在成熟期與衰退期階段更為顯著。

The present study investigates the relationship between board characteristics and firm performance at different life cycle stages. We collect data for firms listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange during 1996-2007. Following Anthony and Ramesh (1992), we assign firms into various life cycle portfolios using sales growth, capital spending rate, firm age, and a composite score. Our results suggest that the duality of the CEO and chairman has a positive impact on firm performance during the firm's growth stage. Having the CEO and chairman being the same person has a negative effect while the proportion of outside directors has a positive effect on firm performance in mature and decline stages. We also find that the influence of board size on firm performance is negative throughout all life cycle stages, and this phenomenon is more pronounced in the firm's growth stage. Moreover, directors' shareholding is positively while the separation of voting rights from cash flow rights is negatively associated with firm performance and such evidence is more pronounced in mature and decline stages.