بدهی مالی شرکتهای کوچک و متوسط
Abstract
1- Introduction
2- Financing of SME export activities
3- Sample selection and variable definitions
4- Descriptive statistics and univariate tests
5- Multivariate analysis
6- Robustness checks
7- Conclusions
References
Abstract
Using detailed financial and exporting data from Belgian small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) between 1998 and 2013, we find that exporters have to finance relatively more working capital than their nonexporting peers and that they resolve this financing need by carrying more short-term financial debt. In addition, while controlling for working capital needs, we find that the positive association between pledgeable short-term assets and short-term debt financing is more pronounced for exporters. In particular, we show that the linkage between pledgeable short-term assets and short-term debt financing is stronger for export-intensive firms and firms that serve distant and risky export destinations.
Introduction
Over the past decades, considerable effort has been devoted to enhancing our understanding of the complexity of corporate financing decisions. To date, studies on corporate capital structure and debt maturity choices have mainly focused on firm characteristics and industry determinants (De Jong, Kabir, & Nguyen, 2008; Titman & Wessels, 1988), as well as on the influence of the national culture, legislation and other country characteristics (Demirgüç-Kunt & Maksimovic, 1999; Fan, Titman, & Twite, 2012). Studies investigating the relationship between internationalization and corporate financing policy, however, are much more limited and are mostly confined to large, stock exchange quoted firms. One of the main insights of this literature is that multinational corporations (MNCs) have lower longterm debt ratios and higher short-term debt ratios than those of comparable domestic corporations (DCs) (Burgman, 1996; Doukas & Pantzalis, 2003; Fatemi, 1988). This leverage differential between MNCs and DCs is explained by the fact that the positive effect of geographic sales diversification on long-term debt financing is offset by the increased risk stemming from exchange rate exposure and unforeseen political events. Furthermore, due to their operational complexity, MNCs are more informationally opaque, which increases the agency costs of debt. To mitigate the problems associated with a riskier borrower profile and agency conflicts, loan maturities are shortened (Barclay & Smith, 1995; Myers, 1977). Building on these studies, the aim of this article is to advance the current literature by empirically investigating the impact of exporting on the corporate financing decisions of another important class of exporters, viz., small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs). Since SMEs cannot substitute short-term and long-term debt financing as easily as large companies - due to difficulties in obtaining long-term debt financing from financial institutions (Ortiz-Molina & Penas, 2008) - the mechanism through which export activities affect SME financing policies may very well be different from what is demonstrated in the MNC literature. According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), access to financial resources to support export activities is a key concern for SMEs since, besides the one-time upfront sunk costs (e.g., costs related to compliance with foreign market regulations and preparatory market research), exporting requires substantial ongoing investment in working capital, as export activities considerably lengthen the cash conversion cycle of the firm (e.g., through longer shipment periods and the administrative burden associated with trading internationally) (WTO, 2016). Hence, understanding how exporting SMEs cope with these financing needs may yield useful insights for exporters, banks and policy makers.