Debt maturity and complete export withdrawal in start-ups

Past research shows that firms with constrained access to debt are more likely to withdraw from exporting. We argue that a firm's debt maturity structure (i.e., the short-term/long-term debt mix) also matters because short-term debt entails liquidity risk and long-term debt entails higher costs. Using a database on Belgian start-ups, we find that start-ups relying mainly on either short-term debt or long-term debt exhibit a higher likelihood to withdraw from exporting compared to start-ups with a more balanced debt maturity structure. This U-shaped relationship is weaker for start-ups with more financial slack and stronger for start-ups with higher growth opportunities.