International Journal of Business and Economics Volume 9, No. 3 December, 2010

Firm Maturity and the Pecking Order Theory

Laarni Bulan

International Business School, Brandeis University, U.S.A.

Zhipeng Yan

School of Management, New Jersey Institute of Technology, U.S.A.

Abstract

We identify firms according to two life cycle stages, namely growth and maturity, and test the pecking order theory of financing. We find a strong maturity effect, i.e., the pecking order theory describes the financing behavior of mature firms better than growth firms. Our findings show that firm maturity is an alternative proxy for debt capacity. In particular, mature firms are older, more stable, and highly profitable with good credit histories. Thus, they naturally have greater debt capacity. After controlling for firm maturity, the pecking order theory describes the financing behavior of firms fairly well.

Keywords：life cycle, pecking order, capital structure.

JEL Classifications：G32.

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