Pecking order theory versus trade-off theory : are service SMEs’ capital structure decisions different?

This paper seeks to analyse if the capital structure decisions of service small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are different from those of other types of firm. To do so, we consider four research samples: (i) 610 service SMEs; (ii) 126 service large firms; (iii) 679 manufacturing and construction SMEs; and (iv) 132 manufacturing and construction large firms. Using the two-step estimation method, the empirical evidence obtained in this study shows that the capital structure decisions of service SMEs are different from those of other types of firm. Service SMEs’ capital structure decisions are closer to the assumptions of Pecking Order Theory and further removed from those of Trade-Off Theory compared with the case of other types of firm

Choice of Financing Mode as a Stochastic Bounded Control Problem

In this note I analyze situations where an entrepreneur needs external financing from an outside investor in order to start an investment project that will yield a profit for two consecutive periods. The value of second-period profit is the entrepreneur's private information. I show that the choice of financing mode can be transformed into an optimal stochastic bounded control problem, where the state variable t represents the investor's first-period payoff and the control variable α can be interpreted in terms of the investor's residual profit rights. I then show that under certain general conditions such as the monotonicity and continuity of t (which have clear economic interpretations), an optimal contract is characterized by maximal α under low values of t and minimal α under high values of t. In economic terms this corresponds to debt

Determinants of Capital Structure in Non-Financial Companies

In this paper, we evaluate firm-, industry- and country-specific factors determining a firm’s capital structure. The empirical validity of several capital structure theories has been ambiguous so far. We shed light on the main drivers of leverage and depict differences in industry and country characteristics. Using a short panel data set with a large cross-section, we are able to show that firm size, industry leverage, industry growth and tax shield positively affect leverage ratios, while profitability and liquidity have negative impacts. Moreover, our model is an improvement over Rajan and Zingales’ (1995) four-factor core model in terms of explaining data variation. The results are robust against different panel estimators, decompositions and over time