A research submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Business Administration

Research Studies Project Report (M. BA.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2019

The decision in capital structure plays greater role in firm's financial performance. There have been many prior researches around the globe in this matter, however the study is far from conclusive. Firms can choose different combinations of capital structures, either larger amount of debt and smaller amount of equity or vice versa, in which in the end they employ capital structure that optimizes their performance. This research aims to understand the relationship of Thai food and beverage sector's capital structure on its firm's financial performance. All data are gathered from Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) with their SET Financial Smart Card (SETFIN SMART) product. It utilizes panel data from 2015 to 2017 with random fixed effect model as regression estimator for all the regression models. The findings of research prove that capital structure is significant to firm's financial performance, whereas it is negatively affecting. Furthermore, other factors such as sales growth and times interest earned, show positive effect on firm's financial performance. The findings of this empirical study are also of greater significance for corporate financial managers to be more aware of employing external financing such as short-term or long-term debt in order to optimize the use of capital structure increasing financial performance The research also supports the validity of pecking order theory, especially in prioritizing the use of financing source.