Kapitalstruktur i små företag
En kvantitativ och en kvalitativ studie
Small FirmsFinancingCapital structureDebt ratioCapitalSmå företagFinansieringKapitalstrukturSoliditetKapital
Background: In the current labor and business policy debate in Sweden there is a major focus on the need for it to become easier to set up small firms, and that it needs to become easier for small firms to hire staff. In order to set up and run a business, funding is required. Firms can choose to work more or less actively with this issue, but they all need to relate to it. There are basically two ways to fund a business, either through equity or through debt. The ratio between these two sources is called the firm?s capital structure.Purpose: To chart the capital structure of small firms in Sweden. Furthermore, the study aims to compare theories of corporate finance with how small businesses reason about, and work with finance in practice.Method: The thesis consists of both a quantitative and a qualitative study. Furthermore, these studies are compared with financial and entrepreneurial theories.Conclusion: The quantitative study shows that the differences between small firms and larger firms are small in terms of average debt ratio. However, the debt ratio varies a lot among individual companies. The qualitative study mainly shows that the pecking-order theory comport with the financing preferences of the companies included in the study. This is not true for the trade-off theory as the companies do not calculate their optimal capital structures. On the contrary, it is shown by the study that enterprisers do not always act in an economically rational way. Instead, the choices of capital structure within the firms are often affected by personal preferences.Keywords: Small firms, Financing, Capital structure, Debt ratio, Capital