Title: The influence of economic fluctuations on corporate financing decisions: South African evidence

Authors: Ludwig Franz Martin Reinhard, Steven Li

Addresses: School of Commerce, University of South Australia, Australia. ' International Graduate School of Business, University of South Australia, Australia

Abstract: This paper is concerned with the influence of economic fluctuations on corporate financing decisions. Based on a sample of listed South African companies over the years from 1996 to 2005, our results confirm the existence of different transmission channels through which economic changes are transmitted into financial adjustments. Our results also reveal that companies follow different financial strategies during different business cycle stages and that companies which follow the matching principle and adjust faster to changing market conditions outperform other companies. The last finding implies that a company|s |speed of adjustment| is an important factor that separates more from less successful companies.

Keywords: business cycles; corporate finance; transmission channels; South Africa; economic fluctuations; financial strategies.

DOI: 10.1504/AAJFA.2008.021069

Afro-Asian Journal of Finance and Accounting, 2008 Vol.1 No.2, pp.107 - 128

Published online: 01 Nov 2008 *

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