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Leverage, Growth Opportunities, and Credit Risk: Evidence from Italian Innovative SMEs

Author

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  • Alberto Manelli

    (Department of Management, Polytechnic University of Marche, Piazzale Martelli 8, 60121 Ancona, Italy)

  • Roberta Pace

    (Department of Industrial and Information Engineering and Economics, University of L’Aquila, Via G. Mezzanotte, 67100 L’Aquila, Italy)

  • Maria Leone

    (Department of Management, Polytechnic University of Marche, Piazzale Martelli 8, 60121 Ancona, Italy)

Abstract

The link between leverage and growth opportunities has been a topic issue in corporate finance for many years. The present paper aims to investigate the link between credit risk, leverage, and growth opportunities in a sample of Italian innovative small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs), given the lack of empirical literature on the subject. The results of the WLS model confirm the relationship between investments, leverage, and credit risk highlighted by the literature—in particular, a negative relationship emerges between credit risk and investments and between leverage and investments, while the analysis reveals a positive relationship between investments and liquidity. Furthermore, in consideration of the significant economic differences existing between the regional macro-areas into which Italy is divided, the firms were classified by geographical areas. The results show that the northeast area is the region characterised by the most reliable and significant results. The paper is organised as follows: Introduction provides a review of the theoretical and empirical literature on the link between leverage, investments, and growth opportunities and on credit risk; Materials and Methods explain the model; Results explain the WLS regression; Discussions contain the main finding of the analysis; Conclusions summarize the study.

Suggested Citation

  • Alberto Manelli & Roberta Pace & Maria Leone, 2022. "Leverage, Growth Opportunities, and Credit Risk: Evidence from Italian Innovative SMEs," Risks, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-10, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jrisks:v:10:y:2022:i:4:p:74-:d:785153
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    References listed on IDEAS

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