VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY NGUYEN TIEN THONG OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE, BOARD CHARACTERISTICS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE IN VIETNAM PHD THESIS HO CHI MINH CITY, 2019 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF HO CHI MINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY NGUYEN TIEN THONG OWNERSHIP STRUCTURE, BOARD CHARACTERISTICS AND FIRM PERFORMANCE IN VIETNAM Subject: Business Administration Code: 62340501 Independent Examiner 1: Associate Prof. Vuong Duc Hoang Quan Independent Examiner 2: Associate Prof. Đô Ba Khang Examiner 1: Associate Prof. Võ Thi Quý Examiner 2: Associate Prof.
Nguyên Minh Ha Examiner 3: Associate Prof. Nguyên Minh Kiêu ADVISORS 1. Nguyên Thu Hiên 2. Piman Limpaphayom STATUTORY DECLARATION I declare that I have developed and written the enclosed Dissertation completely by myself, and have not used sources or means without declaration in the text.
Any thoughts from others or literal quotations are clearly marked. The Dissertation was not used in the same or in a similar version to achieve an academic grading or is being published elsewhere. Author, Signature Nguyễn Tiến Thông ABSTRACT Ownership structure, which specifies who are the owners of the firm, is crucial to corporate governance as it explains sources of agency conflicts. Roles and impacts of different corporate owners on corporate performance and governance have been studied worldwide, but not as popular for the role of State-Owned Holding Company (SOH) as a model of state capital investment agency.
This study examines the relationship of ownership of SOH in the listed companies with state capital in Vietnam and the performance of these firms. The result shows that companies with SOH ownership, or SOH-linked companies (SLCs), deliver superior returns and enjoy higher valuations than GLCs and non-GLCs as a result of higher profitability, and lower leverage ratio. The evidence shows that when SOH holds a dominant ownership, it exercises positive control on firms, which results in better market performance. Further analysis shows that SLCs hold more cash and the shareholders appreciate the cash hold by the SLCs, robust to the firms’ characteristics.
Without evidence that SLCs have special privileges and lower business risks, the better shareholder value of cash in SLCs is revealed to come from better corporate governance. This study contributes to the literature of ownership structure and corporate governance and provides an evidence for SOH as a positive ownership and monitoring mechanism in improving corporate governance and firm performance in companies with State-owned capital in Vietnam. The study also looks at the impacts of other owners in listed companies, such as family owners and foreign owners, board characteristics, and board independence on firm performance and yields evidence for various impacts of internal governance mechanisms on firm performance. li TÓM TẮT LUẬN ÁN Cau trúc sở hữu, trong đó cho thấy ai là chủ sở hữu của công ty, đóng vai trò rất quan trọng trong quản trị công ty vì nó giải thích nguồn gốc các xung đột đại diện.
Vai trò và tác động của các loại hình chủ sở hữu doanh nghiệp khác nhau đối với hiệu quả hoạt động và quản trị công ty đã được nghiên cứu trên thế giới, tuy nhiên các nghiên cứu vé vai trò của State-Owned Holding Company (SOH) như một mô hình của cơ quan dau tư vốn nhà nước van còn rất giới hạn. Nghiên cứu nảy xem xét mối quan hệ giữa sở hữu của SOH trong các công ty niêm yết có vốn nhà nước tại Việt Nam và hiệu quả hoạt động của các công ty này. Kết quả cho thấy các công ty có sở hữu của SOH, hoặc các công ty liên kết với SOH (SLCs), có hiệu quả vượt trội và được định giá cao hon so với các công ty GLCs và non- GLCs do lợi nhuận cao hon và tỷ lệ đòn bay thấp hơn. Bang chứng cho thấy khi SOH nắm giữ quyên sở hữu chi phối, SOH sẽ thực thi các kiểm soát tích cực đối với các công ty, điều này dẫn đến hiệu quả thị trường tốt hơn.
Phân tích sâu hơn cho thay rang SLCs nắm giữ nhiều tiền mặt hơn va các cỗ đông đánh giá cao việc nắm giữ tiền mặt của SLCs, làm nổi bật đặc điểm của các công ty này. Không có băng chứng cho thấy SLCs nhận được các đặc quyền và rủi ro kinh doanh thấp hơn, giá trị tiền mặt cho cô đông tốt hơn trong SLCs được cho rằng đến từ quản trị công ty tốt hơn. Nghiên cứu này đóng góp vào cơ sở lý thuyết về cau trúc sở hữu và quản trị công ty và cung cấp bang chứng cho thay SOH là một cơ chế sở hữu và giám sát tích cực trong việc cải thiện chất lượng quản trị công ty và hiệu quả hoạt động của các công ty có vốn nhà nước tại Việt Nam. Nghiên cứu cũng xem xét tác động của các loại hình hữu khác trong các công ty niêm vết, như sở hữu gia đình và sở hữu nước ngoài, đặc điểm của hội đồng quản trị và sự độc lập của hội đồng quản trị đối với hiệu quả hoạt động của công ty và đưa ra bằng chứng cho các tác động khác nhau của cơ chế quản trỊ nội bộ đối với hiệu quả hoạt động của công ty.
ili ACKNOWLEDMENTS This thesis is a dedicated present to my dear parents to thank for their invisible contributions and also the wishes they have expected on me. The Buddha said “in the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gentle you lived, and how gratefully you let go things not meant for you”. | would like to thank my parents for their love, their mercy and their sacrifices helped me grow up. I am grateful to my advisors, Dr.
Nguyen Thu Hien and Assoc Prof. Piman Limpaphayom for their thoughtful guidance and insightful comments throughout my working. Corporate Governance is a new research direction and their knowledge and experience are useful resources for my first step in this field. I would like to say thank to other teachers of University of Technology, The School of Industrial Management, my colleagues and my friends with their supports and encouragement during my efforts for this study.
Last but not least, I would like to express my sincere thanks to Prof.Nguyén Trong Hoai Associate Prof.V6 Thi Quy Associate Prof.Nguyén Minh Ha Associate Prof. Nguyén Minh Kiéu Associate Prof. Vuong Duc Hoang Quan Associate Prof. Dé Bá Khang Dr.Duong Nhu Hung for their precious comments to help improve my work.
IV TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ae. xI CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION.2 Research Gap nẽ aắốg.3 = Research OJ€CtIVS.4 = Research Scopes ha ae. G1 ng vn 21 CHAPTER 2 STATE-OWNED HOLDING COMPANY.1 SOE and SOH nh ae .2 State-Owned Enterprises .3 SOEs & Privatizations in other COUTifrI€S.4 SOEs and Equitization 1n Viefnam. State-Owned Holding Company, a new approach.1 SOH: Managerial Form.
SOH: Around the World .4 Temasek Holdings, a successful SOH.5 Khazanah Nasional Berhad, SOH of Malaysia .6 SCIC, SOH of Viefnam. 41 CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEW. SG QQQQ HH S SH HH ng nghe.1 Agency Theory and Agency Problem.2 State Ownership Agency Problem. Remedies to Agency Problem.4 Model of SOH blockholder with profitability objective as remedy to State ownership agency problem.
Other Ownership Structure & Board Characteristics as Remedies to Agency PrOblÏ€1m.6 | Ownership Structure, Cash Holdings and Firm Value.7 — FIrm PerÍOrImanCG.2 Previous Studies on Ownership Structure, Board Characteristics and Firm Performance. Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics Studies around the World 56 3.2 Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics Studies in Literature. Research Hypothesis DeveÏopmenf.1 Impacts of SOH ownership on Firm Performance. Role of Ownership Structure on Firm Performance through impacts of Cash Holdings07777 —.
67 SA 6Uuảiuo:/ấatddddẢ®OỒĐỒỔ.2 Research Variables for Impacts of Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics on Firm Performance .3 Research Variables for Impacts of Ownership Structure on Firm Performance through Cash Holdings 00. ccccessssssssscceeeeeeceeeeeesesesssssaeeeeees 86 7 ie im ee 89 4.1 Pooled Cross Section (POLS). S111 g0 000 1 1 vn ng vờ 90 4.-GQQQQ Q00 1v vn ng.6 Feasible Generalized Least Square (FGLS) 0.7 Panel-Corrected Standard Error (PCSE).8 Breusch-Pagan Lagrange Multiplier (LM) Test and Hausman Test.9 Endogeneity of Ownership Sfrucfure.c Q1 TT n0 3K 93 CHAPTER 5 RESULTS.1 Description of na. Correlation Analysis of Variables .4 Performance Comparisons between SLCs, GLCs and non-SLCs.
Impacts of Ownership Structure, Board Characteristics on Firm Performance. Impacts of Ownership Structure on Firm Performance through Interaction Variables. Discussions on SLCs’ Performance.4 Impacts of Ownership Structure on Corporate Cash Holdings. Impacts of Ownership Structure, Cash Holdings on Firm Value.
110111 111 1 11 n1 1 ng ng re 125 5.8 Summary of Chapter.cccccccccccccsssssssssssceeeeecceeeeeseessssssaeeeeeeeeeeeeesseeseegas 129 CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSIONS. eee cecccsscceesssseeceseseeecesesseeceseeseeeeeseeesessesaeeees 133 “accon ha. Summary of Main Findings from SampÌes. Implications for Literature based on findings from study’s samples .2 Implications for Policy Makers based on findings from study’s samples.143 “Zx“*Uu 0o ha .4 Limitations and future r€S€arC:.
SLCs and GLCs Benchmarking on Performance Ratios, Privileges and 0005895 1. Value of Cash Holidings Regressions .đA 184 vil LIST OF FIGURES Figure 3.1 Agency conflicts and corporate governance.3 Vietnamese Companies by Categories.--- c1 1133331111111 1 11118 11111 ng 1 re 74 Figure 4.2 Direct Relationship Model with Variables.«-‹«<---- 75 Vill LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1 Differences in Governance Between Private and SOEs Sectors.2 Summary of SOEs related topics on Financial Times Top 45 Journals .3 SOH in two-tiered principal—agent relatlonship.4 Type of features of SOHs.6 Comparison between Temasek Holdings and SCIC .7 Comparison between SCIC and State capital companies and GLUCs.8 SCIC Main Functions .9 SCIC as a Shadow ÏÍnV€S{OY. Q10 1 1n ng ng nen 40 Table 3.1 Summary of Key Studies on the Relationship between Ownership Structure 201088160088901090)1-1) 16.2 Previous Studies of Ownership Structure, Board Characteristics in Vietnamese 21c -.1 Performance Measurements for Comparisons AnalySis .2 Hypotheses for IGMs on Firm Performance.3 Hypotheses for Impacts on Cash Holdings .4 Hypotheses for Impacts on Shareholders’ Value of Cash Holdings.5 Independent Variables for Impacts of Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics on Firm Performance .6 Performance Measurements for Impacts of Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics .7 Control Variables for Impacts of Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics on Firm Performance .9 Variables and Definitions for Cash Holdings Model.10 Variables and Definitions for Level of Excess Cash Model.11 Variables and Definitions for Change of Excess Cash Model.2 Descriptive Statistics by Industries .3 Independent Variables Correlation Matr1x.8 Tests for Heteroscedasticity of Model ÏA.9 Test for Autocorrelation for Model 1A wo.10 Impacts of Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics on Firm I9 sr061;1)19S HH ‹(«ao-'t.11 Tests for Heteroscedasticity for Model 2A.12 Impacts of Ownership Structure on Firm Performance through Interaction r0 1 .13 Tests for Heteroscedasticity for Model 3A.14 Impacts of Ownership Structure on Cash Holdings.16 Impacts of Ownership Structure on Value of Cash using Excess Return Regressions (AMMeX 020 11007177.12 Robustness Check by Sub-periods Regressions of Ownership Structure and Board CharacteristiCs.13 Robustness Check by Industry-Adjusted-Performance Regressions of Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics .cccccccccccccsssssssssseceeeeceeeeseeeeeesaes 127 IX Table 5.14 Impacts of Ownership Structure and Board Characteristics on Firm Performance by IV.15 Impacts of ownership structure and board characteristics on Firm Performance by Lagged Ownership ABBREVIATIONS CG Corporate Governance BOD Board of Directors FE Fixed Effects FGLS Feasible Generalized Least Square GLC Government-Linked Company. In this study, GLCs means government linked companies that do not have SCIC’s ownership.
ICB Industry Classification Benchmark IGM Internal Governance Mechanism LM Lagrange Multiplier OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development OLS Ordinary Least Squares SB Supervisory Board SCIC State Capital Investment Corporation SOE State-Owned Enterprise SOH State-Owned Holding Company SLC SOH Linked Company RE Random Effects UK United Kingdom US United States of America Xi CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION This chapter introduces the thesis, its rationales, research gaps, objectives, significance, research scope and structure of the thesis.