Board characteristics and asymmetric cost behavior: evidence from Egypt

Purpose - This paper aims to provide further evidence on asymmetric cost behavior (cost stickiness) from one of the emerging economies, Egypt. The study provides empirical evidence on the potential impact of corporate governance on nature and extent of asymmetric cost behavior. Design/methodology/approach - The study estimates three multiple regression models using ordinary least squares to examine the behavior of cost of goods sold (COGS) and the influence of board characteristics and other control variables in a sample of 80 listed companies during 2008-2013. Findings - The analysis provides evidence on COGS asymmetric behavior, where the analysis finds that COGS increases by 1.05 per cent but decrease by 0.85 per cent for an equivalent activity change of 1 per cent, which contradicts the traditional cost model assumption that costs behave linearly. In addition, the analysis finds that firm-year observations with larger boards, role duality and higher non-executives ratio exhibit greater cost asymmetry than others, while firms-years with successive sales decrease, higher economic growth and institutional ownership found to exhibit lower cost stickiness. Originality/value - This study contributes by providing evidence on asymmetric cost behavior from one of emerging economies. Further, the study extends the very few studies on the relationship between corporate governance and asymmetric cost behavior. In addition, the study contributes by examining a different cost type (COGS) that has been examined by very few studies. Finally, the study provides an evaluation of the 2007 Egyptian Corporate Governance Code in the cost behavior context.