The impact of financial structure on export perfor-mance: The case of manufacturing sectors in Turkey

Abstract

A substantial amount of empirical research has explored the decisive role of var-ious external and internal forces on determining the sector export performance. However, there are a few studies, considering financial structure as a determi-nant of export performance. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the relationship between a set of financial variables and export performance in Turkey’s 24 manufacturing sectors for the period between 2008 and 2016. According to the panel EGLS results, short-term debt, bank loans, size, interest expenses and return on equity have a positive effect on export intensity in con-trast to the return on asset, current asset ratio and foreign exchange rate. Conse-quently, we find substantial evidence that more short term-debt and bank loans in the capital structure lead to an increase in export performance. Further, firms with larger sizes, higher return on equity tend to present higher export performance.

A substantial amount of empirical research has explored the decisive role of var-ious external and internal forces on determining the sector export performance. However, there are a few studies, considering financial structure as a determi-nant of export performance. This paper aims to provide a better understanding of the relationship between a set of financial variables and export performance in Turkey’s 24 manufacturing sectors for the period between 2008 and 2016. According to the panel EGLS results, short-term debt, bank loans, size, interest expenses and return on equity have a positive effect on export intensity in con-trast to the return on asset, current asset ratio and foreign exchange rate. Conse-quently, we find substantial evidence that more short term-debt and bank loans in the capital structure lead to an increase in export performance. Further, firms with larger sizes, higher return on equity tend to present higher export performance.