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This book investigates the empirical evidence on capital structure decisions of European small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). More than 100 firms had been surveyed on financial instruments, determinants of financing decisions and the differences in the use of those instruments and determinants when doing business in developing countries. The theoretical section provides an overview of the Pecking Order as well as the Trade-off Theory. Furthermore, cross country determinants of capital structure and existing empirical evidence from other studies are examined. The survey shows that more than half of the respondents follow some kind of target debt level and that slightly less than half follow some kind of financing pecking order. A fair amount of support for the Pecking Order Theory as well as for the Trade-off Theory had been found.

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Alexander Lehner was born 1978 in Villach, Austria. He studied natural science in Austria and business administration in the UK. During his career he was working in dozens of countries, mainly in the Middle East, Asia, Europe and America. Beside his international management activities, he is also teaching international business.

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