Diversification of financing sources for SMEs: the effect of life cycles. Evidence form Argentina

ANAHÍ BRIOZZO; HERNÁN VIGIER

African Journal of Business Management

Academic Journals

Año: 2012 vol. 6 p. 811 - 826

1993-8233

We examined the effects of life cycle approaches on the capital structure of small and mediumenterprises (SMEs) and tested the implications of these approaches using a sample of firms from Bahia Blanca (Argentina). We analysed the relationships between the diversification of financing sources and a set of variables from models of the financial growth cycle, the life-cycle of the owner-manager, and the life-cycle of the family firm. Using the multinomial logit model as an estimation method, we found some evidence of information asymmetries, but our main contribution lies in our assertion that the diversification of financing sources is partially a response to the characteristics of the firm owner’s: age, education, and goals for the firm.