A Research Report submitted to the Facultv of Commerce, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Commerce. / This Research Report examines the determinants of South African industrial firms' capital structures. The report attempts to evaluate if a firm's preference for equity or debt capital can be attributed to specific variables which may reflect its industry profile or operating structure. A literature review, discussing both perfect and imperfect capital market conditions, is included in order to determine if the premise of "variable influence" has academic support. The variables found to have an influence on (non South African company) capital structure by authors examined in the review, are / Andrew Chakane 2018