Evaluating the Factors that Affect SMEs Financing Decisions An Empirical Study on NILEX Listed SMEs in Egypt

Abstract

The objective of this thesis is to empirically investigate the firm-level factors that affect SMEs’ capital structure decisions in Egypt, being one of the developing countries striving to promote SMEs for their vital role in economic growth, employment generation, enhancing competitiveness, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship. In order to achieve the research objectives, static Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and dynamic panel system Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) were incorporated using data of 30 NILEX listed SMEs throughout the period 2009 - 2017 to assess the factors that affect the firm’s capital structure like sales growth, profitability, SMEs’ size, SMEs’ age, industry sector, asset structure and business risk.