This thesis investigates the interplay of context with culture on strategic investment decision (SID) making practises in strategic management accounting, strategic management, cross cultural management and global strategic management research in Singapore using three research questions. These research questions commence from an inter-country perspective on SID making and narrow down to the theme of foreign versus domestic investments. The three research questions are: Research question 1(RQ1): Do strategic management accounting, strategic management and cultural aspects vary across Singaporean companies in SID making? Research Question 2 (RQ 2): Can SID differences be explained by using a four way categorisation of firms? Research Question 3 (RQ3): Do decision making practises for international SIDs differ from domestic SIDs? The first research question aims to determine country versus context specific SID making practises using Singapore as the research context. Having acknowledged unique country specific influences on SID making practises in the analysis conducted using the first research question, the second research question segments the Singaporean SIDs in conjunction with the international SIDs into four contextual categories using unique contextual differences that are highlighted in the analysis. The third research question aims to ascertain unique aspects of SID research that can be applied to global strategic management research. To address RQ3, the findings from RQ1 and RQ2 are consolidated in tandem with global strategic management research in order to distinguish between foreign direct investments versus domestic investments in SID making. Drawing on Singapore as the empirical focus for fieldwork, a multi-tiered case analysis system is used. The methods chapter illustrates the pilot study and thirty case studies that are conducted over two years over three stages with representative companies from the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. In the detailed case study approach taken by the researcher; web-based research, questionnaire modifications, interviews, field visits, factory observations and financial reports collection are duplicated in Stages one to three to ensure comparability with the previous phases. In the discussion section, the dominating themes from the results chapters are used as comparison with multi-country research in order to investigate the three research questions in detail. In total, nineteen expectations that are derived from the literature review covering the dimensions of strategic management accounting, strategic management, cross cultural management and global strategic management are extracted and compared with actual SID making practises exhibited in the 30 case studies. Cultural similarities within the thirty Singaporean SIDs are contrasted with unique cultural features of U.S, U.K, Japanese and German firms using RQ1. Beyond financial variables, culture specific differences are specifically highlighted for the dimensions of intuition, power distance relationships, long term orientation and minimum financial versus strategic emphasis in the Singaporean sample. In RQ1’s analysis, it is found that Singaporean firms exhibit the highest degree of future orientated behaviour, power distance relationships in conjunction with lower levels of assertiveness and in-group collectivism when contrasted with U.K, U.S, Japanese and German firms. However, some contextual differences are apparent within the Singaporean sample which RQ2 seeks to explain. In RQ2’s analysis, the thirty firms are structured into Market Creators, Value Creators, Refocusers and Restructurers where marked distinctions in financial flexibility, financial expectations and attitude towards financial targets are found. Further observations found that firms in the tertiary sector favour readiness in SID making, as compared to planned SID making approaches in the secondary and primary sectors. Hence, it is concluded that culture and context both play important roles in different aspects in SID making. RQ3’s analysis aims to show subtle distinctions between overseas and domestic SIDs. It is found that firms investing in overseas SIDs are inclined to be longer-term in their SID making approach than firms who have a higher propensity to invest in domestic SIDs. The approaches for host country selection differ for the 4 contextual categories. The Market Creators tend to be influenced by the availability of closeknitted partners when investing overseas. In contrast, the Refocusers and Restructurers are highly customer-driven whereas the Value Creators are attracted by the host country’s market potential. From the literature summary of the four unique dimensions pertinent to SID making, a pre-conceptual framework is derived. In the discussion section, the pre-conceptual framework is restructured into a post-conceptual framework where themes common to the Singaporean and multi-country SIDs that have been used for comparative analysis are emphasised. This framework concludes the thesis by combining both contextual and cultural themes using research from the eastern and western contexts.

Changing the business operations and adopting new operational innovations, have become key features for a business solution approach. However, there are challenges for developing innovative operations due to a lack of the proper decision analysis tools, lack of understanding the impacts transition will have on operational models, and the time limits of the innovation life cycle. The cases of business failure in operational innovation (i.e. Eastman Kodak Company and Borders Group Inc.,) support the need for an investment decision framework. This research aims to develop a Real Option Dynamic Decision (RODD) framework for decision making, to support decision makers for operational innovation investments. This development will help the business/organization to recognize the need for change in operations, and quickly respond to market threats and customer needs. The RODD framework is developed by integrating a strategic investment method (Real Options Analysis), management transition evaluation (Matrix of Change), competitiveness evaluation (Lotka-Volterra), and dynamic behavior modeling (System Dynamics Modeling) to analyze the feasibility of the transformation, and to assess return on investment of new operation schemes. Two case studies are used: United Parcel Service of America, Inc., and Firefighting Operations to validate the RODD framework. The results show that the benefits of this decisionmaking framework are (1) to provide increased flexibility, improved predictions, and more information to decision makers; (2) to assess the value alternative option with regards to uncertainty and competitiveness; (3) to reduce complexity; and (4) to gain a new understanding of operational innovations.

Chapter 2 considers technology adoption under both technological and subsidy uncertainties. Uncertainty in subsidies for green technologies is considered as an example. Technological progress is exogenous and modeled as a jump process with a drift. The analytical solution is presented for cases when there is no subsidy uncertainty and when the subsidy changes once. The case when the subsidy follows a time invariant Markov process is analyzed numerically. The results show that improving the innovation process raises the investment thresholds. When technological jumps are small or rare, this improvement reduces the expected time before technology adoption. However, when technological jumps are large or abundant, this improvement may raise this expected time. Chapter 3 studies technology adoption in a duopoly where the unbiased technological change improves production efficiency. Technological progress is exogenous and modeled as a jump process with a drift. There is always a Markov perfect equilibrium in which the firm with more efficient technology never preempts its rival. Also, a class of equilibria may exist that lead to a smaller industry surplus. In these equilibria either of the firms may preempt its rival in a set of technology efficiency values. The first investment does not necessarily happen at the boundary of this set due to the discrete nature of the technology progress. The set shrinks and eventually disappears when the difference between firms’ efficiencies increases. Chapter 4 studies the behavior of two firms after a new investment opportunity arises. Firms either invest immediately or wait until market uncertainty is resolved. Two types of separating equilibrium are possible when sunk costs are private information. In the first type the firm with lower cost invests first. In the second type the firm with higher cost invests first leading to a smaller industry surplus. The results indicate that the second type is possible only for strictly negatively correlated sunk costs. Numerical analysis illustrates that when first mover advantage is large, the firm that delays the investment should be almost certain about its rival’s sunk cost. When market risk increases, the equilibria can exist when the firm is less certain. / text

R&D plays a dual role: First, it generates new knowledge and second, it develops a firm's absorptive capacity. Most of the existing strategic investment game models neglect, however, the second role of R&D. The aim of this paper is to incorporate the absorptive capacity hypothesis in such a model by endogenizing the spillover. A two-stage game is established and subsequently solved, looking for the subgame perfect Nash equilibria. Considering the comparative static properties of the model as well as the simulation results, a new effect appears: The "free-rider effect" of the models with exogenous spillover, which deteriorates the higher the spillover becomes, is now counteracted by the "absorptive capacity effect". It is found that firms will invest more in R&D to strengthen absorptive capacity when the spillover parameter is higher. (author's abstract) / Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Series

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:25:55Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Bruno Esteter.pdf: 401071 bytes, checksum: db303ce103d1d54e442f3d7053e8d614 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-02-09 / The twenty-first century should be recognized as the age of corporate governance (CARLSSON, 2001). In order to develop the Brazilian capital market, the discussion around the issue remains relevant and current. This research aimed to investigate the influence on investors perception of corporate governance practices in abnormal returns when firms issue publicly traded strategic investment announcements based on Signaling Theory (SPENCE, 1973), considering the listing in different segments of BOVESPA (Nível 2 and Novo Mercado) and the issuance of ADR s level 2 and 3 as a proxy for it. Strategic investment is any use of the resources employed which results in growth opportunity for the company (KESTER, 1984). In this research, announcements of mergers and acquisitions (FA), joint venture (JV), investments in expanding or building new manufacturing plants, R & D investments were considered as announcements of strategic investments. Through the methodology of event study, were investigated 569 investment announcements of 127 different companies during the period january 2005 through december 2010. The period of the event concerned includes the range of -5 to 10 days after the announcement of the event to the market. To identify the market's behavior during various times, several windows were used event: -5 to 10 days after the event, from -5 to date of the event, the event date to +5 and +10, of -1 to +1 and only to the event date. Tests were carried out disregarding the advertisements issued by PETROBRAS and VALE, excluding announcement issued by financial firms, with control variables, by type of announcement and companies with more than one announcement in the period investigated. The results suggest no influence by joining different levels of corporate governance or the issuance of ADR s in the returns obtained by companies during the various windows investigated, suggesting little influence these governance practices in view of the market when these companies issue announcements of investments market strategy. / O século XXI deverá ser reconhecido como sendo a era da governança corporativa (CARLSSON, 2001). Com o intuito de desenvolver o mercado de capitais brasileiro, a discussão em torno do assunto se mantém relevante e atual. Este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar a influência, na percepção dos investidores, de práticas diferenciadas de governança corporativa nos retornos anormais quando as empresas com capital aberto emitem anúncios de investimentos estratégicos à luz da Teoria da Sinalização (SPENCE, 1973), considerando a listagem nos segmentos diferenciados da BM&FBOVESPA (Nível 2 e Novo Mercado) e a emissão de ADR s nível 2 e 3 como proxy para tal. Investimento estratégico é toda e qualquer utilização de recursos empregados que resulta em oportunidade de crescimento para a empresa (KESTER, 1984). Neste trabalho, anúncios de fusões e aquisições (FA), joint venture (JV), investimentos em expansão ou construção de novas plantas fabris, investimentos em P&D foram considerados como anúncios de investimentos estratégicos. Por meio da metodologia de estudo de evento, foram investigados 569 anúncios de investimentos de 127 empresas de capital aberto distintas, durante o período de janeiro de 2005 até dezembro de 2010. O período do evento considerado compreende o intervalo de -5 até 10 dias após a divulgação do evento ao mercado. Visando identificar o comportamento do mercado durante diversos momentos, foram utilizadas diversas janelas de evento: de -5 até 10 dias após o evento, de -5 até a data do evento, da data do evento até +5 e +10, de -1 até +1 e apenas para a data do evento. Foram realizados testes desconsiderando os anúncios emitidos pela PETROBRAS e VALE, excluindo os anúncios emitidos por empresas do setor financeiro, com variáveis de controle, por tipo de anúncio e empresas com mais de 1 anúncio no período investigado. Os resultados obtidos sugerem não haver influência da listagem em níveis diferenciados de governança corporativa ou da emissão de ADR s nos retornos obtidos pelas empresas durante as diversas janelas investigadas, sugerindo pouca influência destas práticas diferenciadas de governança na percepção do mercado quando estas empresas emitem anúncios de investimentos estratégicos para o mercado.

直覺上，跨國資本的自由流動對投資國與被投資國的經濟均有益處，亦可促使資源在國際間以更有效率的方式分配，增進雙方的福利。然而實際上被投資國卻對外來投資加以限制，並且須透過雙邊協商的方式移除此限制。因此，前述自由投資增進兩國福利的直覺似乎與既存的眾多雙邊投資協定相互矛盾。本文建立一基本的理論模型，考慮直接投資以及兩國的策略性投資政策，藉以說明 Nash Equilibrium 為兩國相互課稅，且無單邊降稅的動機。因此，只有透過雙邊簽署投資協定的方式共同降稅，方能消除課稅所產生的無謂損失。 / Intuitively, the free mobility of transnational capital not only benefits home countries and host countries, but also allocates resources globally in a more efficient way, which makes their welfare increase. However, host countries actually implement many restrictions on cross-border capital and try to remove these through bilateral negotiations. Therefore, the intuition that free investment between two countries will increase their economic welfare seems to be contradictory to many existing bilateral investment treaties (BITs). This article provides a theoretical model with foreign driect investment (FDI) and strategic investment policies, first, as to explain the Nash Equilibrium is that two countries will tax investors' FDI behavior. Second, it explains both countries do not have any motivation to reduce taxes unilaterally. Therefore, only when these two countries decide to remove all restrictions on foreign capital mutually by signing bilateral investment treaties do they eliminate the deadweight loss which restraints bring about.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:30:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Luis Elesbao de Oliveira Neto.pdf: 882668 bytes, checksum: 8fd9f6c5b6a38e2901e75be4072b5e59 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-04-05 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / This quantitative research aims to investigate the impact of strategic investment decisions on firm value creation, when taken by optimistic and overconfident managers. The research was conducted under the irrational managers approach (BAKER et al., 2005) and used a sample consisting of 502 strategic investment announcements made by 131 managers from 116 different Brazilian publicly traded companies, from January/2005 to December/2009. Strategic investments are considered as being all capital expenditures which create growth opportunities for companies (KESTER, 1984). The empirical results suggest that investors react negatively to announcements of strategic investments when made by optimistic and overconfident managers, pointing that differences in style, opinion and perception of reality motivated by personal managers characteristics are perceived by the market and thus discounted from companies stock price. Unlike the models prescribed by Gervais et al. (2003) and Hackbarth (2004), which predict that moderate levels of optimism and overconfidence exhibited by managers are beneficial for firm s shareholders, only partial support was found to the hypothesis that the magnitude or degree of manager s optimism/overconfidence is relevant. The results suggest that managers who exhibit a moderate degree of optimism and overconfidence are better perceived by investors than others considered markedly biased. However, the results do not confirm the existence of a degree or level for optimism/overconfidence that is beneficial to the firm and also superior to others. Managers regarded as rational and less biased were those who had their strategic investment announcements best assessed by the market. / Esta pesquisa, de natureza quantitativa, buscou investigar o impacto das decisões de investimentos estratégicos na criação de valor para as empresas, quando tomadas por gestores otimistas e excessivamente confiantes. A pesquisa, conduzida dentro da abordagem dos gestores irracionais (BAKER et al., 2005), utilizou uma amostra formada por 502 anúncios de investimentos estratégicos, realizados por 131 gestores de 116 diferentes empresas brasileiras de capital aberto, no período compreendido entre janeiro/2005 e dezembro/2009. São considerados investimentos estratégicos todos aqueles dispêndios de capital que criam oportunidade de crescimento para as empresas (KESTER, 1984). Os resultados da pesquisa empírica sugerem que os investidores reagem negativamente aos anúncios de investimentos estratégicos quando realizados por gestores otimistas e excessivamente confiantes, indicando que as diferenças de estilo, opinião e de percepção da realidade motivadas por características pessoais dos gestores são consideradas pelo mercado e descontadas do preço das ações das empresas. Ao contrário dos modelos prescritos por Gervais et al. (2003) e Hackbarth (2004),os quais predizem que a presença de um nível moderado desses vieses nos gestores é benéfica aos acionistas das empresas, encontrou-se suporte apenas parcial à hipótese de que a intensidade ou grau de enviesamento do gestor é relevante. Os resultados da pesquisa sugerem que os gestores que exibem grau moderado de otimismo e confiança excessiva são melhor percebidos pelos investidores do que outros considerados pronunciadamente enviesados.Entretanto, os resultados não confirmam a existência de um grau de intensidade para otimismo/confiança excessiva que seja benéfico à empresa e, ainda, superior aos demais.Gestores tidos como racionais e menos enviesados foram os que tiveram seus anúncios de investimentos estratégicos melhor percebidos pelo mercado

Bakgrund: Automatisering inom tillverkande företag är en pågående trend som spåsfortsätta framöver. Automatisering kan beskrivas som att mänskliga arbetsuppgifterersätts med maskinella enheter, det förekommer även olika nivåer av automatisering.Med hänsyn till en ökad global konkurrens ses automatisering som en nödvändighet förtillverkande företag för att fortsatt vara konkurrenskraftiga. Syfte: Det övergripande syftet med studien är att öka kunskapen omautomatiseringsinvesteringar och därigenom bidra till den strategiska investeringsteorin.Syftet uppfylls genom att beskriva hur svenska tillverkande industriföretagsinvesteringsbedömning genomförs vid automatiseringsinvesteringar samt identifieravilka drivkrafterna för automatisering är. Därigenom bidrar även studien med praktiskkunskap som ämnar att underlätta tillverkande företags investeringsbedömning vidautomatiseringsinvesteringar. Metod: Tillvägagångssättet utgår från en kvalitativ metod, där studien har genomförtspå svenska tillverkande industriföretag. Det empiriska materialet har inhämtats frånsemi-strukturerade intervjuer samt diverse dokument. Materialet har därefter analyseratsutifrån en komparativ metod för att upptäcka skillnader och likheter mellanfallföretagen. Slutsats: Studien visar att drivkrafter bakom automatiseringsinvesteringar ärekonomiska aspekter samt att automatiseringsinvesteringar inte nödvändigtvis ärstrategiska investeringar. Vid investeringsbedömningar spelar finansiella faktorer denprimära rollen, där payback-måttet används mest frekvent. Kvalitativa faktorer tas ibeaktning vid investeringsbedömningar men kan ses som sekundära. Uppnås intekravnivån, får kvalitativa faktorer mer tyngd som agrument vid investeringsbeslutet. / Background: Automation is an ongoing trend for manufacturing companies, which isexpected to continue. Automation can be described as human duties are replaced bymachines and there’s different levels of automation. Considering the increased globalcompetition, automation can be seen as necessary for manufacturing companies toremain competitive. Purpose: The overall purpose of this study is to increase the knowledge of automationinvestments and thereby contribute to the strategic investment theory. Further, thepurpose is describe how Swedish manufacturing companies investment assessment itcarried out for automation investments and identify what driving forces are behindautomation. Thereby this study also contribute with practical knowledge that aims tofacilitate manufacturing companies investment assessment regarding automationinvestments. Method: The approach is based on a qualitative method and the study was conducted on Swedish manufacturing companies. The empirical material was collected from semi-structured interviews and through different documents. The material has then been analyzed based on a comparative method for detecting differences and similaritiesbetween the companies. Conclusion: This study shows that driving forces behind automation investment isfinancial aspects and that automation investments isn’t always strategic investments. In investment assessments, financial factors play the primary role, where the payback-method are used most frequently. Qualitative factors are taken into account when investing but can be seen as secondary. If the level of requirements isn’t reached,qualitative factors are given more weight as an argument in the investment decisionmaking.

<p>Water infrastructure forms a critical sector of our social system and provides goods and services for public health, the natural environment, economic safety, various businesses, and government operations. In the United States (US), drinking water is supplied nationally through one million miles of pipes, most of which were installed in the early to mid-20th century with a life span of 75 to 100 years. Along with this fact, water bills which are rising faster than inflation, result in communities grappling with aging water systems, fewer water resources, and extreme weather. The federal government’s share of capital investment for water infrastructure has fallen from 31% in 1977 to 4% in 2017. Regional and state expenditure has accounted for a much larger share as federal aid for water infrastructure capital needs has declined. This has led to water rates rising to cover the costs of replacing and upgrading water infrastructure in many communities across the country. They are struggling to meet such costs through local rates and fees.</p><p>Over the next 20 years, more than 56 million new users are expected to connect to centralized treatment systems, and $271 billion is needed to meet current and future demands. However, the investment in critical water infrastructure is currently only meeting a fraction of the funding need. In 2019, the total capital spending on water infrastructure at all levels was $48 billion, while investment needs totaled $129 billion, creating an $81 billion gap. As such, the most recent American Society of Civil Engineers’ Infrastructure Report Card assigned a D to the drinking water infrastructure and a D+ to the nation’s wastewater infrastructure. Ineffectual and wasteful investment in the water sector has caused an adverse effect on grades in the infrastructure report card for water infrastructures. Moreover, this may negatively impact water-reliant sectors and water-related infrastructures due to the economic ripple effect.</p><p>This research has developed a data-driven strategic investment decision support system to close the existing water infrastructure investment gap and reduce the vulnerability of aging water infrastructure. The first phase of this study was to determine the causes affecting the grades in the infrastructure report card for drinking water and wastewater infrastructure and contributing to any latent threats and prolonged risks. It uses data-driven approaches based on analysis of existing ineffective improvement methods and recommendations. It attempts to leverage a data-driven supervised statistical learning method to capture the complex relationships between new challenges and the growing demand for water infrastructure needs. The ultimate outcome of this phase is a research approach to minimize water and wastewater vulnerability and close the investment gap to help create a paradigm shift in the current state of practice. Furthermore, improving the resiliency of and increasing investments in the water and wastewater infrastructure will lead to a resilient, efficient, and reliable water future and protect the public health of future generations.</p><p>The second phase of this study was to predict the economic benefits of additional federal support in water infrastructure among interdependent sectors within an economic system to facilitate the federal government’s share of capital investment. It conducts ripple effects analysis, which predicts the effectiveness of water infrastructure capital investment using historical economic data. It explores how federal capital investment in water infrastructure spreads economic benefits within an interdependent system. This phase was conducted at the federal level using the interindustry-macro model that analyzes macroeconomic data, including over 400 sectors. Investments that are coordinated at the federal, state, and local level will help control and stabilize rising water rates across the US.</p><p>The third phase of this study was to conduct a cost-benefit assessment in terms of private, financial, economic, and efficiency considerations using nominal and real terms to maximize the benefit of investing in the water sector and reduce the vulnerability of water infrastructures. In order to measure the costs and benefits of a strategy to maximize the efficiency of limited budgets and resources, this phase conducts a cost-benefit analysis due to the investment costs for rehabilitating and improving water infrastructures using historical economic and financial data. The long-term financial framework, including considerations of deep uncertainties so that decision-makers can understand the benefit of investing assets for an optimal level versus the cost of doing nothing and allowing the asset to run to failure is developed using the cost-benefit assessment.</p><p>Finally, a data-driven strategic investment decision support system that helps governments make water infrastructure development plans and infrastructure investment decisions in the water sector is presented. It can help governments with designing a novel system or modifying existing ineffective assessment methods and recommendations aimed at minimizing the mismatch in the water infrastructure investment gap between current spending levels and funding needs. Furthermore, minimizing the risks of ineffectual and wasteful water sector investment through rehabilitating and improving water infrastructures in a rational manner will lead to improved grades in the infrastructure report card and the resiliency of interrelated infrastructures and sectors.</p>

Studien avser att förklara hur kapitalstrukturen, bestående av eget kapital, kortfristiga skulder och långfristiga skulder påverkar valet av kapitalbudgeteringsteknik inom stora svenska bolag vid strategiska investeringar. Genom Trade Off teorin och Principal Agent teorin formulerades studiens hypoteser. Empirin samlades in via enkäter som skickades ut till 325 bolag listade på Nasdaq OMX Small, Mid och Large Cap, där svarsfrekvensen blev ca 19 %. För att kartlägga kapitalstrukturen inhämtades årsredovisningar för att sedan beräkna nyckeltal som mäter de olika delarna i kapitalstrukturen. Resultatet har analyserats med hjälp av statistiska analyser, vilket visar att kapitalstrukturen påverkar valet av kapitalbudgeteringsteknik inom stora bolag. En hög andel kortfristiga skulder har en positiv association med osofistikerade tekniker medan en hög andel långfristiga skulder inte har någon association med varken osofistikerade eller sofistikerade tekniker. Vidare påvisas det inte att högt eget kapital har en positiv association med sofistikerade tekniker, däremot finns en negativ association med osofistikerade tekniker. Tidigare studier har inte delat upp skuldstrukturen och menar att en hög andel skulder ökar användandet av osofistikerade tekniker. Studier som är baserade på stora företag har inte tidigare påvisat ett samband mellan hög skuldsättning och osofistikerade tekniker, vilket gör skäl för uppdelningen. Denna studien har bidragit med att dela upp skuldstrukturen i kortfristiga skulder respektive långfristiga skulder. / The study intends to explain how the capital structure, consisting of equity, short-term liabilities and long- term liabilities, affects the choice of capital budgeting techniques in large Swedish companies in strategic investments. Through the Trade Off theory and Principal Agent theory, the study's hypotheses were formulated. Empirical was collected true surveys sent to 325 companies listed on Nasdaq OMX Small, Mid and Large Cap, where the response rate was about 19 %. To chart the capital structure, annual reports were obtained to calculate key ratios that measure the various components of the capital structure. The result has been analyzed using statistical analyzes, which shows that the capital structure affects the choice of capital budgeting techniques in larger companies. A high proportion of short-term liabilities has a positive association with unsophisticated techniques, while a high proportion of long-term liabilities has no association with neither unsophisticated or sophisticated techniques. Furthermore, it is not shown that high equity has a positive association with sophisticated techniques, but there is a negative association with unsophisticated techniques. Previous studies have not broken up the debt structure and mean that a high proportion of debt increases the use of unsophisticated techniques. Studies based on larger companies have not previously demonstrated a link between high leverage and unsophisticated techniques, which makes the division possible. This study has helped to break down the debt structure in short-term liabilities and long-term liabilities.