The Impact of Corporate Strategies on Financial Leverage: Evidence From Turkish- Listed Firms

Abstract

Purpose – The study aims to carry out empirical testing to analyze the impact of corporate strategies (internationalization, diversification) on financial decisions for non-financial Turkish listed firms. Method – The fixed effects panel data model is utilized in the analysis to examine the effect of internationalization and diversification strategies on leverage ratio of Turkish firms. Data is collected from hundred fifty-three non-financial organizations that are listed on the Borsa Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE) between 2003–2018. Finding – The outcomes of this study provide empirical evidence that internationalization and diversification have significant positive impacts on debt level of Turkish organizations. Moreover, liquidity, non-debt tax shield, tangibility, and profitability have significant negative effect on debt ratio of non-financial Turkish firms. The findings of this paper also suggest that size, growth opportunity, and ownership concentration have positive and significant effect on debt ratio of Turkish firms. Discussing – Considering a wide range of the financial literature that recognized capital structure as a crucial subject, most of the literature addressed the relations between firm-specific characteristics and financial leverage, a few studies focused on the relation between corporate strategy and a firm’s leverage in developed and emerging countries’ economics. Unfortunately, Turkey has been neglected in this field. To do so, this study considered the effect of two corporate strategies – internationalization and diversification strategies – and seven more factors potentially influencing the capital structure of Turkish firms.