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Financial Structure and Diversification of European Firms

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  • Lawless, Martina
  • O'Connell, Brian
  • O'Toole, Conor
Abstract
Small and medium enterprises have been shown to rely mainly on banks for funding and, unlike larger firms, rarely have direct access to capital markets. This article looks at the extent to which SMEs avail of a wider range of funding options and how their use differs across firms and countries. Across all countries, we find that firms are currently using two or three sources of finance to fund their operations and have had previous experience of other types of funding. There are some noticeable differences across countries with peripheral economies generally being less diversified. Differences across firm size and age groups are more marked than cross-country variation, with smaller and younger firms significantly more reliant on a limited set of finance types and older, larger firms having more diversified financial structures. Looking at individual sources of financing, we find that trade credit and informal sources of finance are extremely prevalent across all countries, with Irish firms being particularly likely to use them as sources of funding.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

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  • Lawless, Martina & O'Connell, Brian & O'Toole, Conor, 2014. "Financial Structure and Diversification of European Firms," Papers WP492, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI).
    • Handle: RePEc:esr:wpaper:wp492
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    4. M. Belén Guercio & Lisana B. Martinez & Aurelio F. Bariviera, 2019. "SME Steeplechase: When Obtaining Money Is Harder Than Innovating," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-14, May.
    5. Castellani, Davide & Giaretta, Elisa & Staglianò, Raffaele, 2022. "“Early-stage financing diversity and firms’ export intensity: a cross-country analysis”," Finance Research Letters, Elsevier, vol. 44(C).
    6. Lisana B. Martinez & M. Belén Guercio & Aurelio F. Bariviera, 2022. "A meta‐analysis of SMEs literature based on the survey on access to finance of enterprises of the European central bank," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 1870-1885, April.
    7. Juan Carlos Urueña-Mejía & Luis H. Gutierrez & Paul Rodríguez-Lesmes, 2023. "Financial inclusion and business practices of microbusiness in Colombia," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 13(2), pages 465-494, June.
    8. Esho, Ebes & Verhoef, Grietjie, 2018. "The Funding Gap and the Financing of Small and Medium Businesses: An Integrated Literature Review and an Agenda," MPRA Paper 90153, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Nov 2018.
    9. Muhammad Arif & Mudassar Hasan & Ahmed Shafique Joyo & Christopher Gan & Sazali Abidin, 2020. "Formal Finance Usage and Innovative SMEs: Evidence from ASEAN Countries," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, September.
    10. Paola Bongini & Annalisa Ferrando & Emanuele Rossi & Monica Rossolini, 2021. "SME access to market-based finance across Eurozone countries," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 1667-1697, April.
    11. Harrison, Richard & Li, Youwei & Vigne, Samuel A. & Wu, Yuliang, 2022. "Why do small businesses have difficulty in accessing bank financing?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    12. McInerney, Niall & O'Brien, Martin & Wosser, Michael & Zavalloni, Luca, 2022. "Rightsizing Bank Capital for Small, Open Economies," Research Technical Papers 4/RT/22, Central Bank of Ireland.
    13. KangYoung Lee & SungMan Yoon, 2020. "Managerial Ability and Tax Planning: Trade-Off between Tax and Nontax Costs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, January.
    14. Lawless, Martina & O'Toole, Conor & Lambert, Derek, 2014. "Financing SMEs in Recovery: Evidence for Irish Policy Options," Research Series, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), number BKMNEXT276.
    15. Román-Aso, Juan A. & Coca Villalba, Fernando & Mastral Franks, Vanessa & Bosch Frigola, Irene, 2021. "Using Principal Component Analysis to create an index of financial conditions in Spain. Differences by firm size and industry," EconStor Preprints 234038, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    16. Caselli, Stefano & Corbetta, Guido & Cucinelli, Doriana & Rossolini, Monica, 2021. "A survival analysis of public guaranteed loans: Does financial intermediary matter?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 54(C).
    17. Olivier Butzbach & Domenico Sarno, 2019. "To What Extent Do Regional Effects Influence Firms’ Capital Structure? The Case of Southern Italian SMEs’," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-20, January.
    18. Lawless, Martina & O’Connell, Brian & O’Toole, Conor, 2015. "SME recovery following a financial crisis: Does debt overhang matter?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 45-59.

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