IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/39825.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Financial constraints and relationship lending in the growth of italian SMEs

Author

Listed:
  • Cinquegrana, Giuseppe
  • Donati, Cristiana
  • Sarno, Domenico

Abstract

Our study confirms that the financial constraints to SME’s growth tend to appear as an excess of sensibility of the investment expenditures on firm’s cash flow. Through the application of dynamic panel data techniques to an extended version of Eulero’s investment equation of a sample of Italian SMEs, the analysis shows that the growth of the subsample of the small firms in backward regions of Italy is more constrained by inside finance than that of firms in more developed regions. This is because the typical information opacity of SMEs is worsened here by the unsatisfactory development of financial markets. Moreover, our analysis ascertains that the small firms can significantly relax the constraints if they are able to establish a close relationship with the banks making easier the access of bank to firm’s information.

Suggested Citation

  • Cinquegrana, Giuseppe & Donati, Cristiana & Sarno, Domenico, 2012. "Financial constraints and relationship lending in the growth of italian SMEs," MPRA Paper 39825, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:39825
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/39825/1/MPRA_paper_39825.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gilchrist, Simon & Himmelberg, Charles P., 1995. "Evidence on the role of cash flow for investment," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 541-572, December.
    2. Ongena, Steven & Smith, David C., 2000. "What Determines the Number of Bank Relationships? Cross-Country Evidence," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 26-56, January.
    3. Enrica Detragiache & Paolo Garella & Luigi Guiso, 2000. "Multiple versus Single Banking Relationships: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(3), pages 1133-1161, June.
    4. Greenbaum, Stuart I. & Kanatas, George & Venezia, Itzhak, 1989. "Equilibrium loan pricing under the bank-client relationship," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 221-235, May.
    5. Zarutskie, Rebecca, 2006. "Evidence on the effects of bank competition on firm borrowing and investment," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(3), pages 503-537, September.
    6. Stephen Bond & Julie Ann Elston & Jacques Mairesse & Benoît Mulkay, 2003. "Financial Factors and Investment in Belgium, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom: A Comparison Using Company Panel Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(1), pages 153-165, February.
    7. Bagella, M. & Becchetti, L. & Caggese, A., 2001. "Financial constraints on investments: A three-pillar approach," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(2), pages 219-254, June.
    8. Blandina Oliveira & Adelino Fortunato, 2006. "Firm Growth and Liquidity Constraints: A Dynamic Analysis," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 27(2), pages 139-156, October.
    9. Arnoud W. A. Boot & Anjan V. Thakor, 2000. "Can Relationship Banking Survive Competition?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 55(2), pages 679-713, April.
    10. Himmelberg, Charles P & Petersen, Bruce C, 1994. "R&D and Internal Finance: A Panel Study of Small Firms in High-Tech Industries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 76(1), pages 38-51, February.
    11. Huntley Schaller, 1993. "Asymmetric Information, Liquidity Constraints and Canadian Investment," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 26(3), pages 552-574, August.
    12. Takeo Hoshi & Anil Kashyap & David Scharfstein, 1991. "Corporate Structure, Liquidity, and Investment: Evidence from Japanese Industrial Groups," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 106(1), pages 33-60.
    13. Stephen Bond & Julie Elston & Jacques Mairesse & Benoit Mulkay, 1997. "Financial factors and investment in Belgium, France, German and the UK: A comparison using company panel data," IFS Working Papers W97/08, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    14. Berger, Allen N & Udell, Gregory F, 1995. "Relationship Lending and Lines of Credit in Small Firm Finance," The Journal of Business, University of Chicago Press, vol. 68(3), pages 351-381, July.
    15. repec:bla:jfinan:v:59:y:2004:i:5:p:2061-2092 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Ernst-Ludwig von Thadden, 1995. "Long-Term Contracts, Short-Term Investment and Monitoring," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(4), pages 557-575.
    17. Aydoḡan Alti, 2003. "How Sensitive Is Investment to Cash Flow When Financing Is Frictionless?," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 58(2), pages 707-722, April.
    18. Boot, Arnoud W A & Thakor, Anjan V, 1994. "Moral Hazard and Secured Lending in an Infinitely Repeated Credit Market Game," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 35(4), pages 899-920, November.
    19. Oliner, Stephen D & Rudebusch, Glenn D, 1992. "Sources of the Financing Hierarchy for Business Investment," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 74(4), pages 643-654, November.
    20. Boot, Arnoud W. A., 2000. "Relationship Banking: What Do We Know?," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 9(1), pages 7-25, January.
    21. Petersen, Mitchell A & Rajan, Raghuram G, 1994. "The Benefits of Lending Relationships: Evidence from Small Business Data," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 49(1), pages 3-37, March.
    22. Steven N. Kaplan & Luigi Zingales, 1997. "Do Investment-Cash Flow Sensitivities Provide Useful Measures of Financing Constraints?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(1), pages 169-215.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Martin Pospisil & Jiri Schwarz, 2014. "Bankruptcy, Investment, and Financial Constraints: Evidence from a Post-Transition Economy," Working Papers IES 2014/12, Charles University Prague, Faculty of Social Sciences, Institute of Economic Studies, revised Apr 2014.
    2. Carlo Bottoni & Michele Cascarano & Iconio Garrì & Litterio Mirenda & Paolo Emilio Mistrulli & Dalia Maria Pizzillo & Davide Revelli & Tiziano Ropele, 2024. "Geography and Access to Credit: The Case of the Italian Mezzogiorno," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 10(3), pages 1029-1085, November.
    3. Jiří Schwarz & Martin Pospíšil, 2018. "Bankruptcy, Investment, and Financial Constraints: Evidence from the Czech Republic," Eastern European Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(2), pages 99-121, March.
    4. Martin Romero Castillo, 2018. "Financing Of The Mipymes For The Development And Competitiveness In The Region Guanajuato, Mexico Financiamiento De Las Mipymes Para El Desarrollo Y Competitividad En La Region Guanajuato, Mexico," Revista Internacional Administracion & Finanzas, The Institute for Business and Finance Research, vol. 11(2), pages 89-98.

    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. Coad, Alex, 2010. "Neoclassical vs evolutionary theories of financial constraints: Critique and prospectus," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 206-218, August.
    2. Jarko Fidrmuc & Philipp Schreiber & Martin Siddiqui, 2018. "Intangible Assets and the Determinants of a Single Bank Relation of German SMEs," European Journal of Business Science and Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Faculty of Business and Economics, vol. 4(1), pages 5-30.
    3. Annalisa Castelli & Gerald P. Dwyer & Iftekhar Hasan, 2012. "Bank Relationships and Firms' Financial Performance: The Italian Experience," European Financial Management, European Financial Management Association, vol. 18(1), pages 28-67, January.
    4. Manoj Athavale & Robert O. Edmister, 2004. "The Pricing of Sequential Bank Loans," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 39(2), pages 231-253, May.
    5. Farinha, Luisa A. & Santos, Joao A. C., 2002. "Switching from Single to Multiple Bank Lending Relationships: Determinants and Implications," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 11(2), pages 124-151, April.
    6. Berger, Allen N. & Klapper, Leora F. & Martinez Peria, Maria Soledad & Zaidi, Rida, 2008. "Bank ownership type and banking relationships," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 37-62, January.
    7. Martinsson, Gustav, 2009. "Finance and R&D Investments - is there a debt overhang effect on R&D investments?," Working Paper Series in Economics and Institutions of Innovation 174, Royal Institute of Technology, CESIS - Centre of Excellence for Science and Innovation Studies.
    8. Leonardo Becchetti & Melody Garcia & Giovanni Trovato, 2009. "Credit rationing and credit view: empirical evidence from loan data," CEIS Research Paper 144, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 30 Sep 2009.
    9. Antje Brunner & Jan Pieter Krahnen, 2013. "Hold-up in multiple banking: evidence from SME lending," International Journal of Banking, Accounting and Finance, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 5(1/2), pages 78-101.
    10. Doris Neuberger & Solvig Räthke, 2009. "Microenterprises and multiple bank relationships: The case of professionals," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 32(2), pages 207-229, February.
    11. Catherine Fuss & Philip Vermeulen, 2006. "The response of firms\u2019 investment and financing to adverse cash flow shocks : the role of bank relationships," Working Paper Research 87, National Bank of Belgium.
    12. Hakimi, Abdelaziz & Hamdi, Helmi, 2013. "The duration of bank relationships and the performance of Tunisian firms," MPRA Paper 55754, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2014.
    13. Gajewski, Krzysztof & Pawłowska, Małgorzata & Rogowski, Wojciech, 2012. "Relacje firm z bankami w Polsce w świetle danych ze sprawozdawczości bankowej [Bank-firm relationships in Poland in the light of data from bank reporting]," MPRA Paper 42544, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 29 Oct 2012.
    14. Christophe J. GODLEWSKI & Ydriss Ziane, 2008. "How many banks does it take to lend? Empirical evidence from Europe," Working Papers of LaRGE Research Center 2008-11, Laboratoire de Recherche en Gestion et Economie (LaRGE), Université de Strasbourg.
    15. Cerqueiro, Geraldo & Degryse, Hans & Ongena, Steven, 2011. "Rules versus discretion in loan rate setting," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 20(4), pages 503-529, October.
    16. repec:zbw:bofrdp:2009_036 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Becchetti, Leonardo & Castelli, Annalisa & Hasan, Iftekhar, 2008. "Investment-cash flow sensitivities, credit rationing and financing constraints," Research Discussion Papers 15/2008, Bank of Finland.
    18. Leonardo Becchetti & Annalisa Castelli & Iftekhar Hasan, 2010. "Investment–cash flow sensitivities, credit rationing and financing constraints in small and medium-sized firms," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 35(4), pages 467-497, November.
    19. Steven Poelhekke & Razvan Vlahu & Vadym Volosovych, 2021. "Corporate Acquisitions and Bank Relationships," Working Papers 726, DNB.
    20. Cardone Riportella, Clara & Casasola, María José, 2005. "Do banking relationships improve credit conditions for Spanish SMEs?," DEE - Working Papers. Business Economics. WB wb052806, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía de la Empresa.
    21. Kotaro Tsuru, 2000. "Finance and Growth: Some Theoretical Considerations and a Review of the Empirical Literature," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 228, OECD Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    firm growth; financial constraints; relationship lending;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G31 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - Capital Budgeting; Fixed Investment and Inventory Studies
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • 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:pra:mprapa:39825. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.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.