IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp17582.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

How Credit Constrained Are Family-Owned SMEs in Arab Countries?

Author

Listed:
  • Gourene, Grakolet

    (UNECA)

  • Brixiova Schwidrowski, Zuzana

    (UNECA)

  • Balcar, Jiří

    (VSB Technical University Ostrava)

  • Johnson Filipova, Lenka

    (VSB Technical University Ostrava)

Abstract

Family-owned firms account for majority of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Arab countries, but evidence on the impact of this ownership type on access to credit in the region is scarce. Yet the issue is key for understanding barriers to the emergence of dynamic private sector and growth acceleration. Utilizing the World Bank Enterprise Surveys, this paper contributes to closing this knowledge gap by examining the links between family ownership and credit constraints of SMEs in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia. We found that while family-owned firms have a higher need for credit than nonfamily-owned firms, they are more likely to be discouraged from applying for it. Due to this self-selection out of credit markets, they end up more credit constrained even though their credit application rejection rates are below those of nonfamily firms. Stronger firm governance, formal business strategies and good managerial practices can ease access to credit for family-owned SMEs.

Suggested Citation

  • Gourene, Grakolet & Brixiova Schwidrowski, Zuzana & Balcar, Jiří & Johnson Filipova, Lenka, 2024. "How Credit Constrained Are Family-Owned SMEs in Arab Countries?," IZA Discussion Papers 17582, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17582
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp17582.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Minetti, Raoul & Murro, Pierluigi & Paiella, Monica, 2015. "Ownership structure, governance, and innovation," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 165-193.
    2. Anderson, Ronald C. & Duru, Augustine & Reeb, David M., 2009. "Founders, heirs, and corporate opacity in the United States," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 205-222, May.
    3. Edward C. Norton & Hua Wang & Chunrong Ai, 2004. "Computing interaction effects and standard errors in logit and probit models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(2), pages 154-167, June.
    4. Fredrik W. Andersson & Dan Johansson & Johan Karlsson & Magnus Lodefalk & Andreas Poldahl, 2018. "Female top management in family firms and non-family firms: evidence from total population data," International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 35(3), pages 303-326.
    5. Pierluigi Murro & Valentina Peruzzi, 2022. "Relationship lending and the use of trade credit: the role of relational capital and private information," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 59(1), pages 327-360, June.
    6. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    7. John Daniel Mclellan & Esam Moustafa, 2013. "An exploratory analysis of management accounting practices in the Arab Gulf Cooperative countries," Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 4(1), pages 51-63, April.
    8. Mertzanis, Charilaos, 2019. "Family ties, institutions and financing constraints in developing countries," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    9. Lawrence C. Rhyne, 1986. "The relationship of strategic planning to financial performance," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(5), pages 423-436, September.
    10. Samara, Georges, 2021. "Family businesses in the Arab Middle East: What do we know and where should we go?," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3).
    11. Duhan, Stephen, 2007. "A capabilities based toolkit for strategic information systems planning in SMEs," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(5), pages 352-367.
    12. David G. Sirmon & Michael A. Hitt, 2003. "Managing Resources: Linking Unique Resources, Management, and Wealth Creation in Family Firms," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 27(4), pages 339-358, October.
    13. Charbel Salloum & Elie Bouri & Georges Samara, 2013. "Impact of family involvement in ownership management and direction on financial performance of the Lebanese firms," Post-Print hal-01369728, HAL.
    14. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2006. "The Role of Family in Family Firms," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 73-96, Spring.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gourène, Grakolet & Brixiova Schwidrowski, Zuzana & Balcar, Jiří & Johnson Filipova, Lenka, 2025. "How Credit Constrained are Family-Owned SMEs in Arab Countries?," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1548, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    2. Valentina Peruzzi, 2017. "Does family ownership structure affect investment-cash flow sensitivity? Evidence from Italian SMEs," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(43), pages 4378-4393, September.
    3. Marco Cucculelli & Valentina Peruzzi & Alberto Zazzaro, 2019. "Relational capital in lending relationships: evidence from European family firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 52(1), pages 277-301, January.
    4. Barros, Ismael & Hernangómez, Juan & Martin-Cruz, Natalia, 2016. "A theoretical model of strategic management of family firms. A dynamic capabilities approach," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 7(3), pages 149-159.
    5. Hu, Min & Dou, Junsheng & You, Xialei, 2023. "Is organizational ambidexterity always beneficial to family-managed SMEs? Evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    6. Breuer, Wolfgang & Knetsch, Andreas, 2022. "Informal authority and economic outcomes of family firms: An issue of national power distance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Andrea Boellis & Sergio Mariotti & Alessandro Minichilli & Lucia Piscitello, 2016. "Family involvement and firms’ establishment mode choice in foreign markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(8), pages 929-950, October.
    8. Sah, Nilesh B. & Banerjee, Anandi & Malm, James & Rahman, Anisur, 2022. "A good name is better than riches: Family firms and working capital management," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 33(C).
    9. Nilesh B. Sah & Anandi Banerjee & James Malm & Anisur Rahman, 2021. "A Good Name Is Better Than Riches: Family Firms and Working Capital Management," Discussion Paper Series 2021-02, McColl School of Business, Queens University of Charlotte.
    10. Peter Jaskiewicz & Joern H. Block & James G. Combs & Danny Miller, 2017. "The Effects of Founder and Family Ownership on Hired CEOs’ Incentives and Firm Performance," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 41(1), pages 73-103, January.
    11. Miller, Danny & Amore, Mario Daniele & Le Breton-Miller, Isabelle & Minichilli, Alessandro & Quarato, Fabio, 2018. "Strategic distinctiveness in family firms: Firm institutional heterogeneity and configurational multidimensionality," Journal of Family Business Strategy, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 16-26.
    12. Valentina Peruzzi, 2024. "Open innovation in family-owned firms," Working Papers CASMEF 2401, Dipartimento di Economia e Finanza, LUISS Guido Carli.
    13. Francesco Aiello & Lidia Mannarino & Valeria Pupo, 2024. "Family firm heterogeneity and patenting. Revising the role of size and age," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 105-133, June.
    14. Cucculelli, Marco & Peruzzi, Valentina, 2020. "Innovation over the industry life-cycle. Does ownership matter?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 49(1).
    15. Murro, Pierluigi & Peruzzi, Valentina, 2019. "Family firms and access to credit. Is family ownership beneficial?," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 173-187.
    16. Patel, Pankaj C. & Kim, Kyoung Yong & Devaraj, Srikant & Li, Mingxiang, 2018. "Family Ties that B(l)ind: Do Family-Owned Franchisees Have Lower Financial Performance than Nonfamily-Owned Franchisees?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 94(2), pages 231-245.
    17. Zvonimir Bašić & Parampreet C. Bindra & Daniela Glätzle-Rützler & Angelo Romano & Matthias Sutter & Claudia Zoller, 2021. "The Roots of Cooperation," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 097, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    18. Sakaue, Katsuki, 2018. "Informal fee charge and school choice under a free primary education policy: Panel data evidence from rural Uganda," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 112-127.
    19. Carolin Bock & Maximilian Schmidt, 2015. "Should I stay, or should I go? – How fund dynamics influence venture capital exit decisions," Review of Financial Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(1), pages 68-82, November.
    20. Chenxi Zhou & Jinhong Xie & Qi Wang, 2016. "Failure to Complete Cross-Border M&As: “To” vs. “From” Emerging Markets," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 47(9), pages 1077-1105, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    family-owned SMEs; access to credit; firm governance; Arab countries;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D22 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Empirical Analysis
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • G32 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Financing Policy; Financial Risk and Risk Management; Capital and Ownership Structure; Value of Firms; Goodwill

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17582. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.