The Determinants of Capital Structure in Ethiopian Small Scale Manufacturing Industry Firms

Master's Thesis from the year 2019 in the subject Business economics - Investment and Finance, grade: 3.28, , language: English, abstract: The purpose of the study is investigating the determinants of capital structure for Small Scale Manufacturing Firms (SSMFs) in Ethiopia. Hypotheses utilizing trade-off, pecking order and agency theories are empirically examined using a series of firm characteristics: size, tangibility, profitability, earning volatility, age and macroeconomic variable (GDP growth rate, inflation rate and interest rate). A structured record review was made to collect a panel data, which include 20 SSMFs year observations of 11 years over the period 1998 - 2008 E.C. The findings suggest that profitability, earning volatility, age, growth, GDP, inflation rate and interest rate variables are the most important determinants of capital structure of SSMFs in Ethiopia. The findings also reveal that the dominant capital structure theories (trade-off, pecking order, and agency theories) appear indeed to be valid for Ethiopian SSMFs' capital structure; in fact, trade-off theory best explains Ethiopian SSMFs' capital structure. All firm specific variables except Size, tangibility and growth variables seem to have an effect on the level of leverage in Ethiopian SSMFs.