债务期限结构在中小企业的成长中有着重要作用,对债务期限结构及其影响因素进行深入研究,有利于提高中小企业金融支持政策的针对性和有效性。笔者以2007-2012年中小企业板和创业板上市公司组成的混合面板数据为样本,研究我国中小企业债务期限结构的影响因素,并着重探讨企业生命周期与债务期限结构的关系。作者发现,生命周期对债务期限结构有重要影响,长期负债占比在企业初创和成长期不断上升,在企业成熟期逐渐下降。资产期限、公司规模和杠杆率与债务期限正相关,自由现金流量与债务期限显著负相关。在制造业企业中,实际税率与债务期限结构正相关。但是,成长期权对债务期限结构的影响不显著。此外,不同行业债务期限结构存在一定差异。
Debt maturity structure plays an important role in the development of SMEs. In this paper, we construct a panel data (2 748 observations) containing companies listed on SME board and GEM from 2007- 2012 as our sample, in order to investigate the determinants of debt maturity structure of SMEs. Empirical analysis shows that firms tend to adopt specific financing strategies as they progress through their business cycles. In the early stage, SMEs tend to increase the use of long-term debt. By contrast, in the maturity stage, they begin to use less long-term debt. This paper also finds that asset maturity and debt maturity structure are positively correlated, as well as size and leverage. Free cash flow and debt maturity are negatively correlated. While effective tax rates and debt maturity are positively correlated in manufacture firms, however, there is no evidence showing that growth options have significant effect on debt maturity structure. Just like other researches, the industry classification affects the choice of debt maturity structure of SMEs