Corporate Governance and Capital Structure:Evidence from Taiwan SMEs

This study examines the effects of corporate governance on capital structure, using the data of 145 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange over the period 2000-2007. The results show that, when there is a high divergence between shareholdings and director seats, conventional industries prefer to use long-term debt financing, while high-tech industries prefer the opposite. For large firms, block-holders and independent directors prefer lower long-term debt financing, but family shareholders and managerial directors prefer lower short-term debt financing. We also find that family shareholding ratio and family directors are the two most important factors that affect the SMEs¡¯ debt ratio. The higher the family shareholding ratio is, the more short-term debt financing will be. However, family directors can reduce the incidence of using short-term debt to support long-term financial needs.