Empirical Research On Adjustment Speed Of Capital Structure And Its Influencing Factor In Chinese Listed Companies

The capital structure has been one of the most important issues in the researchfield of financial management. All the companies face the ever-changing marketenvironment, so they need to timely adjust their capital structure. The adjustmentspeed of capital structure is closely related to the fate of the company. Fasteradjustment speed can ensure that the company takes measures in time and achievesvalue maximization or cost minimization in the changing external environment. Nowthe problem of adjustment speeds of capital structure has been paid more attention.Foreign scholars have made a thorough theoretical and empirical research oncapital structure adjustment, and achieved some meaningful research results. Thefactors influencing adjustment speed of capital structure are divided into two aspectsof the firm characteristics and macroeconomic environment. As the different nationaleconomic environments and different research methods, the research conclusion offoreign scholars is not fully applicable to our company. In recent years, some scholarsstudied the issue about adjustment speed of capital structure in our country, but still inits infancy.On the basis of the study before, the financial data of listed companies for theyears2000-2011was used as a sample. This paper studied the adjustment speed ofcapital structure of listed companies in our country by the Generalized Method ofMoments (GMM), and empirically analysed influencing factors of adjustment speed.Compared with the traditional study, this study introduced new substitution variables.The results indicate:(1) The adjustment speed of capital structure of listed companiesin our country is0.1923, which is slower and fluctuant.(2) Most of listed companiesin our country choose partial adjustment model for capital structures, and a fewchoose optimal adjustment or non-adjustment model.(3) The adjustment speed ofcapital structure is significantly influenced by company characteristic factors, whichcontaining the degree of deviating from the target value, company size andprofitability, and so on.(4) In macro-environmental factors, prosperity index andgovernment control have significantly impact on adjustment speed of capital structure,but the GDP growth and fiscal policy are not key influencing factors.