Investigating the Stickiness of Costs in the Pharmaceutical Companies Listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange

• Main Authors: M. Nazemi Ardakani, F. Hekmati
• Format: Article
• Language: fas
• Published: Shiraz University of Medical Sciences 2015-12-01
• Series: حسابداری سلامت
• Subjects: operational cost; pharmaceutical companies; sale income; the asymmetric behavior of cost; the stickiness of cost
• Online Access: http://jha.sums.ac.ir/article_39274_ebdf57bc0cdcb406c0803821bebe4f08.pdf

<strong>Introduction:</strong> The aim of this research is to examine the stickiness of operational costs and the cost price of sold product and some probable effective factors (such as assets, debts, free cash flow and Gross Domestic Product) on the stickiness of operational costs in the pharmaceutical companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange. <br /><strong>Method: </strong>The research is applied in terms of purpose, and it has been conducted through Critical Incident Technique by the use of past information. In order to test the presented hypotheses, Time Series Analysis has been used. The statistical sample and population of the research involve 24 pharmaceutical companies listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange during 2003-2014 which have been active in the Pharmaceutical Industry. The applied statistical method in this research is multiple linear regression.In order to analyze the data, Excel Software Version 13 and Eviews Version 8 have been used. <br /><strong>Results:</strong> The findings of the research indicate that the operational costs have sticky behavior in relation to sale income changes, but no evidence was found for the stickiness of the cost price of the sold product. Also, the results state a meaningful relationship between the rate of stickiness of operational costs and free cash flow in such a way that in the firms with higher free cash flow, stickiness of costs are higher. Additionally, the results suggest a direct and meaningful relationship between the rate of stickiness of operational costs and Gross Domestic Production, but the effectiveness of the assets and debts on the stickiness of the operational costs did not validate. <br /><strong>Conclusion:</strong> In the case of predicting an increase in the future sale or in the economic growth periods, for a proper use of opportunities, and also because the achievement and further preparation of resources are in needs of time and double cost, managers protect the resources in the firm in order to gain a higher privilege by sale return to the previous level of sale which will lead to the stickiness of operational costs. <br />