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This study is to investigate the effect which capital structure has had on corporate performance using a panel data sample representing of 167 Jordanian companies during 1989-2003. Our results showed that a firm's capital structure had a significantly negative impact on the firm's performance measures, in both the accounting and market's measures. We also found that the short-term debt to total assets (STDTA) level has a significantly positive effect on the market performance measure (Tobin's Q). The Gulf Crisis 1990-1991 was found to have a positive impact on Jordanian corporate performance while the outbreak of Intifadah in the West Bank and Gaza in September 2000 had a negative impact on corporate performance. ABSTRACTThis study is to investigate the effect which capital structure has had on corporate performance using a panel data sample representing of 167 Jordanian companies during 1989-2003. Our results showed that a firm's capital structure had a significantly negative impact on the firm's performance measures, in both the accounting and market's measures. We also found that the short-term debt to total assets (STDTA) level has a significantly positive effect on the market performance measure (Tobin's Q).

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Purpose-This paper seeks to examine the impact of ownership structure on firm performance and the default risk of a sample of publicly listed firms. Design/methodology/approach-This paper examines the impact of ownership structure on firm performance and the default risk of a sample of 59 publicly listed firms in Jordan from 1989 to 2002. Findings-The main findings were: ownership structure has significant effects on the accounting measure of performance return on assets (ROE); government shares are significantly negatively related to the firm's performance ROE; defaulted firms have a high concentration ownership compared with nondefaulted firms and also high foreign ownership firms have a low incidence of default; government ownership is significantly negatively related to the firm's probability of default; both mix and concentration ownership structure data can be used to predict the probability of default as the largest five shareholders (C5) and government ownership fraction (FGO) are significantly negatively correlated with the probability of the default. These results further suggest that reducing government ownership can increase a firm's performance but will also cause some firms to go bankrupt, at least in the short term. Originality/value-This paper provides useful information on the impact of ownership structure on firm performance and the default risk of a sample of publicly-listed firms.

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