Market orientation as determinant of entrepreneurship: An empirical investigation on SMEs

Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Market Orientation (MO) are considered key factors in ensuring firm longevity in the new competitive landscape. Despite extensive research during the past decade, most of the studies use samples that exclude small and medium enterprises (SMEs), which represent the majority of economic activity worldwide. Some studies do investigate this relationship in small companies but place little importance on the subtle differences between SMEs and large companies when measuring MO. This study empirically investigates the relationship between MO and EO on a sample of 2500 Swedish SMEs. A new measure of MO that takes into consideration SMEs specific conditions has been developed and used. Findings suggest that MO is the main determinant of EO in SMEs.     

Trade Credit,the Financial Crisis,and SME Access to Finance

Mounting evidence indicates that firms, particularly SMEs, suffered from a significant credit crunch during this crisis. We analyze for the first time whether trade credit provided an alternative source of external finance to SMEs during the crisis. Using firm‐level Spanish data we find that credit constrained SMEs depend on trade credit, but not bank loans, and that the intensity of this dependence increased during the financial crisis. Unconstrained firms, in contrast, are dependent on bank loans but not on trade credit.     

Capital structure decisions: old issues,new insights from high-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises

Using panel data models and this study analyses the capital structure decisions of high-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and non-high-tech SMEs. The results suggest that the capital structure decisions of high-tech SMEs are closer to what is predicted by the Pecking Order Theory. However, the results also suggest a modified version of the Pecking Order Theory for high-tech SMEs that have relied on venture capital. These firms prefer equity issues to debt, when internal finance is exhausted. The empirical evidence suggests that problems relating to information asymmetry as well as technological and market uncertainty influence the capital structure decisions of high-tech SMEs.     

The Role and Current Status of IFRS in the Completion of National Accounting Rules – Evidence from Switzerland

Abstract

Although Switzerland is not a member of the European Union, the EU directives have largely influenced the Swiss accounting regulation. IFRS also have been highly influential since many large companies used them long before they became mandatory for listed firms. Moreover, IFRS served as a benchmark for the development of Swiss GAAP. This article compares the current Swiss accounting regulation to the new EU accounting directive and to IFRS. Despite many similarities, the Swiss regulation retains major specificities, the most notable being the permission of hidden reserves.     

Agenda Entrance Complexity in International Accounting Standard Setting: The Case of IFRS for SMEs

Features of rational decision making (such as agenda entrance criteria and statement of jurisdiction) barely conceal the complexity of international accounting standard setting. In 2003, when the International Financial Reporting Standard for Small and Medium‐sized Entities (IFRS for SMEs) project achieved agenda entrance, the International Accounting Standards Board's (IASB) jurisdiction was to develop, ‘a single set of … accounting standards … to help participants in the world's capital markets’. Drawing on interviewees' recollections and other material, this study of how the project achieved agenda entrance finds within‐IASB opposition to the project, arguing it was outside the IASB's jurisdiction that dissolved with the realisation that the IASB's jurisdiction would be changed to encompass the project.     

中小企业融资结构的比较分析——基于江苏中小企业的问卷调查

本文通过对江苏省内不同地区中小企业的问卷调查,利用调研数据和统计数据对中小企业融资结构进行比较分析,通过比较中小企业融资结构在"地缘"上的差异,找出存在的问题并进一步分析形成原因。最后从构造中小企业的金融支持体系和完善中小企业的信用体系两个角度提出优化企业融资结构,缓解中小企业融资困难的对策建议。     

中小企业信息化水平测评方法研究

文章提出了建立中小企业信息化水平评价指标体系,针对我国中小企业的特点选择了评价指标,运用层次分析法对指标权重进行了确定,提出了变权重的评价方法,使指标体系更适于对不同行业的中小企业信息化水平做出准确的评价。     

基于信用担保的中小企业债权融资博弈模型研究

中小企业已经成为我国经济发展中最活跃和最具成长潜力的重要组成部分,但我国中小企业发展的现实环境并不宽松,融资难已成为制约中小企业发展的最大障碍和"瓶颈",从理论上研究中小企业融资难的内在机理对于解决中小企业融资问题具有重要的理论意义.在现有研究文献的基础上,结合中小企业的债权融资特点,利用博弈论方法,建立恰当的数学模型对信用担保条件下的中小企业债权融资问题进行了深入系统的研究,对引入信用担保机制后中小企业与银行之间的均衡选择决策进行了探讨,阐明了信用担保机制在解决中小企业融资难问题中的内在机理,最后提出了相关的政策建议.     

A causal analysis of the impact of information systems and supply chain management practices on operational performance: Evidence from manufacturing SMEs in Turkey

This study has empirically tested a framework identifying the causal links among supply chain management (SCM) and information systems (IS) practices, SCM–IS related inhibiting factors and operational performance based on a sample of 203 manufacturing SMEs operating in the manufacture of fabricated metal products and general purpose machinery within the greater metropolitan area of Istanbul in Turkey. Moderating effect of SCM and IS related enabling factors on the above mentioned relationships is also investigated in this study. Tests of hypotheses indicate that both SCM and IS practices positively and significantly influence the operational performance of sample firms. The results of the structural model also indicate a strong support for negative relationships between SCM–IS related inhibitors and the implementation levels of both SCM and IS practices. Similarly, a strong support was found for the hypothesized negative relationship between SCM–IS inhibitors and operational performance of SMEs. Finally, we verified the moderating impact of SCM–IS enablers on the link between SCM practices and operational performance. A similar moderating impact was also found with regard to the relationship between IS practices and operational performance.     

国外中小企业会计研究及启示

以中小企业为研究对象,从财务报表和使用者、应用会计准则情况、国际会计和报告标准政府间专家工作组意见、英国中小企业财务报告体系研究出发,对中小企业会计研究文献和现状做了系统的论述和探讨,并就我国如何规范中小企业财务报告体系提出了的意见和建议。