Reviewing the Relationship between Capital Structure Policies and the Life Cycle of Listed Companies in Tehran Stock Exchange

This study was conducted to investigate the relationship between capital structure policies and the lifecycle of listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange. In order to achieve this aim, a main hypothesis and three sub-hypotheses were developed and a multivariate linear regression was used to test research hypotheses. This research was performed on 187 listed companies in Tehran Stock Exchange based on the information contained in financial reports from 2005 to 2011. In this research companies are divided into two groups: companies in the growth stage and companies in the maturity stage; and capital structure is composed of net debt issue, retained earnings and equity. The research results showed that the effect of the deficit on net debt issue was higher in companies in the growth stage compared to companies in the maturity stage, but was no significant and also the effect of the deficit on net equity and retained earnings in companies in the growth stage was higher compared to companies in the maturity stage and was significant. The research main hypothesis also showed that companies in the growth stage follow the hierarchical theory more than companies in the maturity stage, but it is not significant.