Does the market react differently to Chaebol firms?

Based on a sample of Korean firms listed on the KOSPI and KOSDAQ from 2001 to 2011, we examined whether the affiliation of a firm with a Chaebol group affects the sensitivity of stock prices to earnings surprises. We found that the market response to positive (negative) earnings surprises is more positive (negative) for Chaebol firms than for non-Chaebol firms. In addition, we investigated how intra-group transactions affect the ERCs of Chaebol firms by comparing with those of non-Chaebol firms. Our results show that the intra-group transactions of Chaebol firms are positively related to ERCs under both positive and negative earnings surprises. However, we did not find the same results from the analyses of non-Chaebol firms.