The influence of economic fluctuations on corporate financing decisions: South African evidence

This paper is concerned with the influence of economic fluctuations on corporate financing decisions. Based on a sample of listed South African companies over the years from 1996 to 2005, our results confirm the existence of different transmission channels through which economic changes are transmitted into financial adjustments. Our results also reveal that companies follow different financial strategies during different business cycle stages and that companies which follow the matching principle and adjust faster to changing market conditions outperform other companies. The last finding implies that a company's 'speed of adjustment' is an important factor that separates more from less successful companies