Analysis of the financing structure of SMEs in Ecuador

The objective of this article was to analyze the debt structure of small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Ecuador that are part of the stock market to determine if it adjusts to the assumptions of the Hierarchical Order Theory, which defends a hierarchy of financial preferences. To process the data, a multiple regression model was applied, which allowed the dependent variable, debt, to be explained through the impact of various institutional variables. The results showed that the independent variables age, tangibility and profitability are negatively related to indebtedness, that is, there is an influence of the assumptions of the Hierarchical Order Theory, while the liquidity variable is not statistically significant for the model.