How different types of financial service providers support small- and medium enterprises under the impact of COVID-19 pandemic: From the perspective of expectancy theory

The 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has significantly impacted several aspects of the society and the economy. A problem that needs prompt attention in this situation is the increasing difficulties faced by small- and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) in raising capital, which has aroused great concern from multiple stakeholders such as public administrations and regulators. As the major supply of capital, financial service providers (FSPs) play a critical role in financing SMEs. However, how FSPs deal with SME financing during shocks has not yet been fully researched. Accordingly, in this study, a theoretical framework based on expectancy theory is proposed to explore the expected strategic adjustments of FSPs in financing SMEs. Specifically, this study investigates 272 FSPs in China on their expectancy and attitude on financing to SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Furthermore, this study has divided FSPs into three categories: commercial banks, non-bank financial institutions, and credit-enhanced FSPs. Differences among these categories are compared and analyzed.     

我国中小企业融资与保险支持研究

近年来,随着我国中小企业的进一步发展,其自身积累已无法满足对资金的需求,必须通过各种渠道进行融资。目前,商业银行仍是中小企业信贷的主力军,虽然大部分商业银行成立了专门为中小企业融资的贷款机构,但在贷款条件方面依然不比大型企业宽松,融资难问题仍制约着中小企业的发展。针对这一问题,保险介入成为中小企业融资的需要以及商业银行降低风险的需要。应积极推进保险业相关法制建设,加大政府支持力度,科学组建承保机构,加强产品研发,强化风险控制,促进保险支持中小企业融资。     

对物流金融在青海省中小企业开展的思考

金融业与物流业的结合,是金融资本与商业资本的有效结合形式,为中小企业融资开辟了渠道,降低供应链平均的融资成本,提高了企业的竞争力。有鉴于此,物流金融为青海省中小企业提供金融服务的优势决定了其将是今后发展的一大趋势。     

中小企业分布形态及其融资模式差异分析

中小企业具有共生、集群、离散三种分布形态,不同分布形态决定了中小企业具有不同的融资需求特性。本文有别于制度安排、金融服务体系构建的一般研究视角,而是从企业分布形态差异的独特视角对中小企业融资难症结进行了分析梳理,针对性地提出中小企业分布形态应向以龙头企业为主导的垂直整合型产业集群方向转变,同时要以培育优化供应链融资环境和创新融资担保模式来疏解不同分布形态的中小企业融资瓶颈。     

SME Policy, Financial Structure and Firm Growth: Evidence From Japan

This paper investigates the effects of public policy and financial structure on the growth of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Using a panel data set on SMEs in the Japanese manufacturing industry, we examine whether or not the SME Creative Business Promotion Law (CBPL) and financial structure affect firm growth. It is found that SMEs approved by prefectural governors under this law tend to increase assets. Further, we provide evidence that the CBPL and cash flow have an impact on the growth of younger SMEs.     

解决我国中小企业融资问题的对策

中小企业作为最有活力的经济细胞，其作用和地位不可忽视。但是由于中小企业自身存在的问题以及外部环境方面的问题，导致了中小企业的融资困难，进而制约了我国中小企业的发展。本文通过对中小企业融资难的原因分析，并借鉴相关的国际经验，提出了建立适合中小企业融资特点的多层次金融体乐的对策。     

金融集聚能缓解中小企业融资约束吗？——基于非线性和区域异质性的视角

以2009—2017年上市中小企业面板数据为样本，应用现金现金流敏感性模型分析了金融集聚对中小企业融资约束的影响。研究发现：整体上金融集聚可以一定程度缓解中小企业融资约束，但存在地区性差异，且门槛效应明显。金融集聚对低金融集聚水平地区的中小企业融资困境有明显改善，但其影响随着金融集聚水平的增加而减少。当金融集聚水平超过高门槛值时，这一作用非常微弱，总体上呈现非线性特征。这说明当金融资源高度集中时可能产生挤出效应。     

融资约束条件下我国中小板上市公司投资效率测度

文章以我国中小企业板上市公司为研究对象,从企业经理人追求利润最大化行为出发构建中小企业的投资支出模型。不同于已有文献仅从投资-现金流敏感性角度入手的实证研究,文章的研究方法无需对样本公司进行分组,而且可以定量测度融资约束条件下的公司投资效率问题。实证结果表明：由于融资约束的存在,使得我国中小板上市公司实际投资支出最优水平低;现金流的增加不仅可以缓解融资约束压力,还能够降低融资不确定性,债务融资比例越高,融资约束越大,进一步加剧了未来融资时的不确定性;我国中小板上市公司融资约束程度与企业规模呈负相关关系,且投资效率随时间呈现下降趋势,意味着近年来我国出台的一系列旨在改善中小企业融资难的政策措施,在实践中并没有起到有效缓解融资约束的作用。     

Social ties between SME managers and bank employees: Financial consequences vs. SME managers' perceptions

We investigate whether social ties between SME managers and bank employees affect SME access to lending, investment, growth and profitability. On the one hand, we examine the influence of social ties on financial indicators based on SME financial statements; on the other hand, we study the impact of social ties on SME managers' perceptions of their firms' main banks. Using a dataset from Poland, we find that social ties improve SMEs' access to bank financing and stimulate their investments. However, this positive impact occurs only when social ties involve bank decision-makers. In contrast, SME managers perceive all types of social ties with bank workers as valuable.     

中小企业贷款风险分类模式探讨

中小企业在国民经济中占有举足轻重的地位并发挥着极其重要的作用.然而,在获得金融支持方面,中小企业却仍处于"弱势群体"的地位.这种"强位弱势"的境况已经成为当前中小企业融资难的真实写照.以商业银行为主的金融机构在中小企业融资问题上要充分发挥作用,商业银行要完善组织架构、强化制度建设,建立起一套有中小企业特色的经营管理体系及运行机制.本文基于此,结合建行实际,以中小企业贷款风险管理为研究对象,针对相关问题展开了讨论,希望能够为相关领域的研究提供指导和帮助.     

Does e‐Business Matter to SMEs? A Comparison of the Financial Impacts of Internet Business Solutions on European and North American SMEs

Small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) are adopting Internet Business Solutions (IBS) internationally to improve their performance. What is the net impact of these solutions for SMEs? This paper presents the results of survey research involving 1,666 organizations in Europe and North America. The research found that IBS adoption mattered resulting in tangible financial benefits for SMEs in all the nations studied. However, these benefits were not evenly distributed across regions, industries, technologies, or size categories. The results suggest that SME managers should adopt a staged approach to IBS adoption in order to maximize performance gains.     

Modelling the Extent of Financial Reporting Practices amongst Australian Manufacturing SMEs

This paper describes an exploratory study of financial reporting practices amongst small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) engaged in manufacturing in Australia. Non-linear principal components analysis is employed in empirical derivation of an overall measure of the comprehensiveness of financial reporting practices undertaken in the SMEs investigated. Non-linear principal components analysis is also used in empirically capturing the business context in terms of enterprise and financial management characteristics. Polytomous logistic regression modelling reveals development orientation, extent of owner-management, technological complexity, degree of reliance upon external financial advice, and the financial reporting climate to be the most significant influences on the extent of financial reporting practices in the SMEs under study. Of the business context factors identified, development orientation and financial reporting climate seem to have greatest impact. The study appears to reinforce the impression that SME growth is a key driver towards more sophisticated financial reporting practices. Alternately, better financial reporting may be viewed as an important enabling factor in realising the growth aspirations of such concerns.     

Small shop survival – The financial response to a global financial crisis

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), many of which are small retail shops, remain the largest employer in the western world. Yet the financing of their fixed and working capital investments remains under-researched. This study focuses on this topic by examining Eurozone wholesale and retail SMEs enterprises at the peak of the 2008 financial credit crisis. In order to do this, an innovative analysis of existing theories in retail finance and policy research using generalised multilevel structural equation modelling is performed to establish how retail SMEs sourced capital during this period. This analysis, a first of its kind in wholesale and retail SME research, finds that pecking order theory, the independence of investment and financing, as well as the contest for financial resources between fixed and working capital do not hold for wholesale and retail SMEs. Moreover, it is found that government grants and subsidised loans were not used by SMEs in this sector of the Eurozone as primary sources of finance during the aftermath of the 2008 global credit crisis. Crucially, it is posited that a business environment characterized by stronger legal rights and deeper credit information did not improve SMEs’ access to external finance. The authors recommend that further research should be pursued in this field in order to improve current understanding of the resilience of retail SMEs for future global financial crises.     

中国中小企业融资现状与政策分析

无论从总体资金结构状况还是多项典型调查的结果来看,中国中小企业融资难的问题都非常突出.为了解决这一问题,尽管近10年来中国有关当局出台了很多政策,但这些政策或由于指导思想失当,或由于存在制度性缺陷,均未能有效缓解中小企业的融资瓶颈.本文认为,为了更好地解决这一问题,必须在坚持"多样性"、"商业性"、"本地机构优先"以及"整体性发展"等原则的基础上,因地制宜地采取措施才有可能真正改善中小企业的融资状况.     

Workplace Flexibility Practices in SMEs: Relationship with Performance via Redundancies,Absenteeism, and Financial Turnover

This workplace flexibility study uses primary data on private sector small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) in Lancashire, United Kingdom, collected in 2009 during the recent “credit crunch” recession. Key features include: (1) objective measures of SME performance; (2) a focus on the previously relatively neglected relationship between workplace flexibility practices (WFPs) and three SME performance indicators, namely, redundancies, absenteeism, and financial turnover; and (3) a timely contribution to research on SMEs. Numerical, functional, and cost WFPs analyses, via zero‐inflated Poisson and linear regressions, control for SME and market characteristics. Despite SMEs having limited resources, the results show a significant section of SMEs to be innovative and entrepreneurial organizations, embracing advancements in employment relations regarding employee discretion, training, participative working arrangements, and/or job security. Moreover, results indicate that WFPs have the potential to assist SMEs in responding to periods of constrained demand. Flexitime and job sharing are associated with low permanent‐employee redundancies. Training, job security, and family‐friendly practices relate to low absenteeism with reductions of up to six annual days per worker. Job security and profit‐related pay are associated with high financial turnover. Staff pay‐freeze links with high financial turnover, but to the detriment of redundancies and absenteeism, whereas management pay‐cuts or management pay‐freeze relate to low financial turnover. On a cautionary note, spending cuts, often enforced by policymakers, may be of limited benefit to SMEs, and thus other approaches would appear more fruitful.     

The Dynamics of Listed SMEs in China

We examine the dynamics of Chinese listed SMEs with respect to their post-market viability and growth after going public. The Kaplan–Meier estimation shows that SMEs are more likely to transition to a non-viable state than large firms. Further examination using the Cox model and the random effects model shows that SME dynamics are shaped by heterogeneous firm and industry characteristics, as well as the underlying financial and institutional environments. SME viability is distinguished by its ability to grow through learning along with age, aided by lower business risk, more focused business, easier access to equity finance, and less exposure to competition in remote regions. SME growth is constrained by a dispersed ownership structure, insufficient infrastructure to protect firms which are active in R&D, and the limited financing role of equity markets. The study also reveals that government initiatives in support of strategic development in the service industries and in the coastal regions are of importance in spurring SME growth.     

中小企业融资机制的缺陷与创新探析

实践证明中小企业已经成为经济发展的重要因素，但是当前的融资机制还不完善，存在着诸如资金供给者和需求者之间信息不对称进而导致出现逆向选择和道德风险、直接融资体制不够完善、中小企业的高风险性与商业性金融机构三性原则之间的矛盾、企业融资缺乏信用等一系列问题，直接影响了中小企业的发展。这决定了解决中小企业融资难的问题只能从融资机制的创新中寻找答案。     

产业集群视阈下的中小企业融资模式研究

国内外中小企业都因融资困难而制约了其发展,这也引起了国内外经济界和理论界的高度关注。国外主要从企业融资来源、结构、优序与质量、中小企业融资缺口及成因、产业集群视阈下的中小企业融资优势和模式等方面开展研究,但以中小企业集群融资为对象的深入理论和实践研究还较少。国内产业集群视阈下的中小企业融资研究,主要集中在产业集群给集群企业带来的融资效应和优势、产业集群内中小企业融资的实证分析、解决集群内中小企业融资难问题的对策分析三个方面。但国内在影响中小企业融资来源、结构、顺序、质量等因素的研究方面和在适合我国集群中小企业的有效融资模式探讨方面还不够深入。这些都需要今后进一步加强。     

中小企业知识产权质押融资比较分析

在我国现有的金融体制下,中小企业、尤其是科技型中小企业,融资难是一个普遍存在的难题,以无形资产做担保在银行进行抵押贷款仍然是很困难的。本文在总结北京知识产权质押融资发展经验的基础上,探讨如何将北京知识产权质押融资模式进一步推广,旨在为中小企业融资开辟新途径。     

Public Sector Support for Innovating SMEs

Innovation support for SMEs is considered from the point of view of the "needs" of SMEs in the context of a specific regional economy – London's Lee Valley region. As identified in the literature and, more specifically, in a survey of 100 innovating SMEs in the study region, attention is focused on the innovation support needs that relate to the size characteristics of SMEs. The difficulties of financing innovation are shown to stem from the attitudes of SME owner managers as well as from supply-side failures. The paper examines four different innovation support instruments, taken as constituting key elements of the support "system" within the region. Drawing on the findings of interviews with client businesses, the paper considers the strengths and weaknesses of each policy instrument. Conclusions relate to the overall impact of innovation support provision, in particular the need for greater integration in the design and implementation of policy instruments.