【正文】 n addition, during this period economic policies supporting SMEs’ operations were also initiated. Measuring Variables 12 The study uses three different measures of capital structure, based on book value. The three dependent variables were: ? Debt ratio = Total debt to total ? Shortterm liabilities ratio = Shortterm liabilities to total assets ? Other shortterm liabilities ratio = Other shortterm liabilities to total assets (mostly financing from works) Shortterm liabilities As far as independent variables are concerned, we have selected several proxies that appear in the empirical literature. ? Growth = Percentage change in total assets (Titman and Wessels 1988。 but negatively related to tangibility. Profitability seems to have no significant impact ton the capital structure of Vietnamese SMEs. The strong impact of such determinants as firm ownership, firm size, relationships with banks, and working reflects the asymmetric features of the fund mobilization process in a transitional economy like that of Vietnam. Key words: SMEs, capital structure, leverage, banking relationships 1 Introduction Vietnam has been changing to a marketoriented economy over the past eighteen years, and there is growing recognition of SMEs’ importance in the transitional economy. Consequently, the Government has introduced numerous policies in order to support this important business sector. According to recent statistics, 96 per cent of registered firms are classified as small and mediumsized firms, of which private SMEs account for nearly 82 per cent. The small business sector in Vietnam also generates 25 per cent of annual GDP. However, SMEs still face the difficult issue of access to capital for future development (Doanh and Pentley 1999). This raises a question as to what factors influence the capital structure of Vietnamese SMEs — an important concern in improving financial policies to support the small business sector. There are only a limited number of studies on factors influencing capital structure among Vietnamese firms. As for similar studies in other countries, most empirical evidence on capital structure tends to focus on large firms in developed countries Only in recent years have a few studies examined 9 these issues either in developing countries or among small firms A review of empirical studies on the capital structure of SMEs helped us to identify some key issues. Not all determinants are consistent with those predictions advanced by theories of finance. Indeed, there are some contrary results on the relationship between some determinants and capital structure among firms in some countries In addition, the firm characteristics are often at the centre in most empirical studies, while the effects of managers’ behaviour have seldom been examined. In a qualitative piece of research, Michaelas, Chittenden, and Pitziouris (1998) argued that owners’ behaviour, in conjunction with internal and external factors, will determine capital structure decisions. This requires further quantitative studies to examine what factors influence capital structure in the small business sector in developing countries. Based on such gaps in the existing literature, this paper attempts to study features of the capital structure of Vietnamese SMEs, over the period 1998–2020, and examine the influence of specific determinants on SMEs’ capital structure. This study has bined data from financial statements and questionnaires given to SMEs’ financial managers to explore how Vietnamese SMEs finance their operations. The study examines such determinants as growth, tangibility, business risk, profitability, size, ownership, relationship with banks, and working on three measures of capital structure. 2 Literature Review and Hypotheses Capital structure is defined as the relative amount of debt and equity used to finance a firm. Theories explaining capital structure and the variation of debt ratios across firms range from the irrelevance of capital structure, proposed by Modigliani and Miller (1958), to a host of relevance theories. If leverage can increase a firm’s value in the MM tax model (Modigliani and Miller 1963。未來的研究也可以考慮特定行業(yè)和結(jié)構(gòu)模型的效果，在越南的企業(yè)在資本結(jié)構(gòu)中對這些變量的因果關(guān)系研究的 目的。越南大多數(shù)中小型企業(yè)的財務(wù)報表未經(jīng)審計。此外，中小型企業(yè)必須建立強大的業(yè)務(wù)網(wǎng)絡(luò)，通過紀律，及時支付，并與供應(yīng)商保持密切的聯(lián)系。一旦中小企業(yè)和貸款人之間的信息不對稱降低，在一般情況下 ， 民營中小企業(yè)可以接受更大的信用水平，尤其是從商業(yè)銀 行。 這項研究還提供了一些影響中小企業(yè)經(jīng)營管理者。 民營中小企業(yè)獲得銀行貸款面臨的挑戰(zhàn)是，確保所有的業(yè)務(wù) 有 同樣的機會從商業(yè)銀行獲得貸款。 越南政策制定者 對 研究提供了一些重要的影響 。第三，企業(yè)的資本結(jié)構(gòu)決定因素相關(guān)的管理行為有很大的影響。最明顯的是國有中小企業(yè) 相 比民營中小企業(yè)具有較高的債務(wù)比率。更具體地說，首先，越南中小企業(yè)采用了資產(chǎn)負債率平均約 ％?？梢哉f，越南中小企業(yè)的杠桿選擇企業(yè)所有權(quán) 起到了重要的作用。由于這個原因，民營中小企業(yè)獲得銀行貸款面臨困難。 ” 因此，國有中小企業(yè)的融資往往是有欠靈活，因為經(jīng)理沒有權(quán)利在必要時籌集額外股本。根據(jù)國有企業(yè) 法 ，“ 政府是國有中小型企業(yè)的唯一所有者。在一般情況下，我們的研究結(jié)果提供 了強有力的證據(jù)，以確認假設(shè)。兩者合計，研究結(jié)果意味著，國有中小型企業(yè)比中小型企業(yè)使用更多的私人債務(wù)。結(jié)果表明，總債務(wù)和短期負債比例的回歸系數(shù) 正 且在統(tǒng)計在 水平上顯著 。因此，我們的研究結(jié)果證實 了假設(shè)。相對規(guī)模較大的公司將使用更多的債務(wù)來資助他們的業(yè)務(wù)，而規(guī)模較小的公司運營融資，更多的是通過自己的權(quán)益，并雇用更少的債務(wù)。此外，標(biāo)準化回歸系數(shù)在所有的決定中也有比較強的影響。在一般情況下，銀行系統(tǒng)的業(yè)務(wù)部門，特別是控制利率的機制將產(chǎn)生負面影響。這是最主要的 原因，解釋為什么越南高風(fēng)險的中小企業(yè)也可以保持高的負債率。商業(yè)銀行只允許 在設(shè)定的 范圍內(nèi)提供利率。這些研究結(jié)果不支持假設(shè) 3 和財務(wù)困境與理論沖突。該結(jié)果支持了所有制結(jié)構(gòu)的概念，作為一個公司的資本 結(jié)構(gòu)決定因素。資本結(jié)構(gòu)的差異，也發(fā)現(xiàn)在其他措施的杠桿作用。國有中小型企業(yè) 相