Environmental proactivity,competitive strategy,and market performance: The mediating role of environmental reputation

This article examines the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises' (SMEs) proactive environmental strategy on market performance through the mediating mechanism of environmental reputation. In addition, we investigate the potential moderating role of competitive strategies on the environmental reputation-market performance nexus. Data were collected from 223 SMEs. Using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the results show that a proactive environmental strategy positively enhances environmental reputation. Also, the influence of proactively environmental strategy on market performance is mediated by environmental reputation. In addition, our findings show the relationship between environmental reputation and market performance is greater for firms that adopt the differentiation strategy but not significant for firms adopting the low-cost and integrated strategies. Our study offers several theoretical and practical implications.     

Interenterprise Credit and Adjustment during Financial Crises: The Role of Firm Size

Small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) suffered a sharp contraction in their borrowing from banks during the Great Recession. Analyzing a large firm‐level database for European countries, the paper shows that trade credit amplified the liquidity squeeze on SMEs, with adverse effects on their real activity. SMEs sharply increased their net trade credit and thus transferred financial resources to larger firms. Given the large weight of SMEs in the economy of European countries, the liquidity squeeze of SMEs likely contributed to the depth of the output fall and the slow recovery in Europe during the Great Recession.     

Network ties and export propensity of Vietnamese small and medium enterprises

This paper investigates the impacts of different network ties on export propensity of Vietnamese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector. Using data from a survey of over 2,600 manufacturing SMEs in 2015, we found that social networks contribute positively to the export propensity of SMEs, while the size of business networks negatively associates with the likelihood of export. However, bank networks and political networks are not significant for the propensity to export of Vietnamese SMEs. We discuss the results in detail and offer recommendations for SME owners, managers and policy makers.     

Environmental sustainability practices and exports: The interplay of strategy and institutions in Latin America

We integrate institutional economics with stakeholder theory to examine the antecedents and outcomes of Environmental Sustainability Practices (ESP) for small and medium enterprises in Latin America. We find that these firms primarily engage in ESP to succeed in export markets. We also find that this is especially true when firms demonstrate organizational agency by adopting complementary strategies such as obtaining international quality certifications to develop credibility among stakeholders. Lastly, their cause receives a further boost when they are based in institutional environments that are known for strong democratic voice and accountability mechanisms. In elucidating the interplay of strategy and institutions, we suggest the need to better integrate organizational agency into institutional theory and institutional environment into stakeholder theory.     

The international market selection of Chinese SMEs: How institutional influence overrides psychic distance

The purpose of this research is to contribute to the ongoing debate about whether psychic distance still plays a vital role in the internationalisation of SMEs from emerging markets. Drawing on the prior research which suggests the salient impact of institutional factors on internationalisation, we investigate the role of home country institutions in international market selection. Adopting a multi-case methodology, we collected semi-structured interview data from six small and medium-sized manufacturing firms in China. Our findings suggest that while psychic distance is still important in some circumstances, both formal institutions, such as government support, and informal institutions, such as business and political guanxi, enable Chinese SMEs to choose psychically distant markets. Our findings also indicate that informal institutions interact with formal institutions to further influence SMEs’ international market selection. This research contributes to SME internationalisation studies by revealing how formal and informal institutional factors override psychic distance in influencing international market selection.     

Innovative Credit Guarantee Schemes with equity-for-guarantee swaps

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) faces much more severe financial constraints compared to large mature companies and it is more vulnerable to market imperfection. To alleviate SMEs’ financial constraints, Public Credit Guarantee Schemes (CGSs) have been introduced and widely used around the world. Having provided a thorough analysis of the effectiveness of the traditional CGSs, we introduce an innovative financing contract, referred to as equity-for-guarantee swap (EGS), with the aim of reducing SMEs’ financial constraints in a more effective way. We show that EGS effectively alleviates SMEs’ severe financial constraints as it transfers the information asymmetry between lenders and SMEs to that between insurers and SMEs We investigate how asset prices vary across time under the EGS contract and analyze insurers’ risk exposure, i.e. value-at-risk (VaR) and expected shortfall (ES), of participating in the EGS contract. Consistent with pecking order theory, SMEs tend to use debt financing first dispite the benefit of a boosted growth rate from private equity financing in our model.     

The impact of international diversification on credit scores: Evidence from the UK

Despite the great deal of previous research into international diversification, we know little about the impact of international diversification on firms’ credit scores. Drawing upon the resource-based view and transaction cost economics, we examine the relationship between international diversification and credit scores by using a large sample of 6,557 UK firms between 2016 and 2017. We find an inverted U-shaped relationship between international diversification and firms’ credit scores, indicating that the effect of international diversification on credit scores is initially positive but becomes negative with over-diversification. In addition, we find that R&D intensity positively moderates the relationship between international diversification and credit score, implying that the credit scores of highly diversified firms improve as they increase their investment in R&D. Further analysis suggests that a firm’s credit score becomes less dependent on international diversification for large firms, firms in concentrated industries, firms in the manufacturing sector, and firms distant from key metropolitan areas, such as London.     

分析师跟踪、内控有效性与科技型中小企业创新

基于2009-2017年创业板317家科技型中小企业数据，从发明专利产出视角，探究分析师跟踪、内部控制有效性与企业技术创新的关系。结果显示，分析师跟踪人数显著提升了企业发明专利产出，内部控制有效性在分析师跟踪人数与企业发明专利产出关系中起部分中介作用，且在融资约束程度较高的企业中更为显著。即企业内外部治理机制有效配合对科技型中小企业技术创新发挥促进效应，且该效应在企业融资约束程度较高时更为显著。     

An analysis of environmental sustainability in small & medium‐sized enterprises: Patterns and trends

One of the greatest challenges facing the world today is climate change. The need to consistently advance with environmentally sustainable practices in today's businesses is crucial, and businesses are demanded to be more environmentally sustainable every day. This study conducts an analysis of the literature on small and medium‐sized enterprises' (SMEs) environmental sustainability by carefully examining 122 studies from 58 journals published from 2013 to 2019. We investigate the trends in drivers and barriers of sustainability adoption to inform both SMEs managers and policymakers. Our results also classify the reviewed studies on the basis of their methodologies and show the distribution of studies across industry sectors and locations in order to set directions for future research on sustainability practices of SMEs.     

Collateral requirements of SMEs: The evidence from less-developed countries

This paper aims to investigate the determinants of collateral requirements for loans that are extended to small and medium-sized enterprises in less-developed countries. Our primary data source consists of the results from firms in Eastern Europe and Central Asia from the Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey, which is compiled by the World Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The results show that borrower-specific variables are more important than country-specific variables in determining collateral requirements on loan contracts. The strongest evidence in our paper emphasises the importance of borrower risk and loan cost in collateral determinants.