2.5 Firm’s Value
In agency relationship, principal establishes company and appoints agent with a hope
that agent works in the line with principal’s interest. Agent should be capable of increasing
principal’s wealth. For public companies, stock market price reflects firm’s value. If market
responds positively on company’s performance, stock market price will increase and firm’s
value increase, thus principal’s wealth also increases.
Prior research found that company’s characteristics such as company size and age
consistently affect firm’s value. Boubaker, Mensi, and Nguyen (2008) show that company
size positively affects firm’s value. Loderer and Waelchli (2009) show that firm age
negatively affects firm’s value. Firm’s value can be measured by price to earnings ratio (P/E),
price to book value (P/B) and Tobin’s Q (Brahmana and Hooy, 2011).