Regional differences in effects of publicly sponsored R&D grants on SME performanceSmall Business Economics - Tập 54 - Trang 951-969 - 2018
Patrik Gustavsson Tingvall, Josefin Videnord
This paper explores regional variation in the effects of publicly sponsored R&D grants on SME performance. The results suggest that there is no guarantee that the grants will impact firm growth, either positive or negative. Positive growth effects are most likely to be found for publicly sponsored R&D grants targeting SMEs located in regions abundant with skilled labor, whereas the opposite is found for SMEs located in regions with a limited supply of skilled labor.
The COVID-19 pandemic and family business performanceSmall Business Economics - Tập 62 - Trang 213-241 - 2023
Ivan Miroshnychenko, Giorgio Vocalelli, Alfredo De Massis, Stefano Grassi, Francesco Ravazzolo
This study examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on corporate financial performance using a unique, cross-country, and longitudinal sample of 3350 listed firms worldwide. We find that the financial performance of family firms has been significantly higher than that of nonfamily firms during the COVID-19 pandemic, accounting for pre-pandemic business conditions. This effect is pertinent to firms with strong family involvement in management or in both management and ownership. We also identify the role of firm-, industry-, and country-level contingencies for family business financial performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study offers a novel understanding of the financial resilience across different types of family business and sets an agenda for future research on the drivers of resilience of family firms to adverse events. It also provides important and novel evidence for policymakers, particularly for firms with different ownership and management structures. The COVID-19 pandemic spread at an unprecedented speed and scale that had not been seen since the Great Depression. But is there an organizational type that has been more financially resilient to the pandemic than others in the business landscape? We conducted a global study of 3350 publicly listed from 2018 to 2021 and found that family firms had substantially higher financial performance than nonfamily firms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our main finding suggests that when governments develop and implement pandemic-related financial support programs for businesses, they need to take into account that the programs that are most suitable for family and nonfamily firms vary, due to the varying ability of both types of firms to be financially resilient in time of crisis. Investors must also pay attention to a firm’s ownership and management structure in evaluating its resilience—or otherwise—to future crises.
Effectiveness of regulatory interventions on firm behavior: a randomized field experiment with e-commerce firmsSmall Business Economics - - 2015
Eelko Huizingh, Machiel Mulder
Economic regulators use various instruments to stimulate SMEs to change their behavior, but limited evidence exists on the effectiveness of such interventions. We analyze the effectiveness of three ways of providing e-commerce firms guidance about the legal rules on information disclosure. The initial non-compliance is considerable. In two interventions, firm-specific guidance is given by post mail and by e-mail, respectively; in another intervention, guidance on industry level is given by means of dedicated publications and presentations. In all cases, the guidance was given on behalf of the regulatory authority. The effectiveness of the firm-specific guidance is measured through a randomized field experiment, while for the industry guidance a panel analysis is conducted. We find that sending the firms a letter by post mail slightly improved firm compliance, but overall the various forms of guidance appear to be ineffective. Although information-related interventions are commonly used in practice, such regulatory interventions can fail to influence the behavior of SMEs.
The entrepreneurial gains from market integration in the new EU member statesSmall Business Economics - Tập 57 - Trang 1-20 - 2020
Nebojša Stojčić, Ivan-Damir Anić, Tonći Svilokos
This paper investigates the impact of economic integrations on entrepreneurial outcomes. The study bridges a gap between the literature on entrepreneurship and trade by exploring how international trade and global value chain (GVC) integration influence the share of start-ups and high-growth firms in manufacturing industries in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) member states of the European Union (EU) during the 2011–2016 period. Exports, imports, and forward GVC participation increase the share of start-ups and high-growth firms, and these effects are evident in low- and high-technology-intensive industries. The effects of trade and GVC integration are more pronounced among the first group of CEE that joined the EU than among latecomers.
Industrial policy evaluation in the presence of spilloversSmall Business Economics - Tập 49 - Trang 671-686 - 2017
Augusto Cerqua, Guido Pellegrini
The shortage of studies on spatial spillovers of capital subsidy policies is rather surprising, considering that such policies are usually designed to generate spatial externalities. We propose a new framework that allows positive agglomeration effects to be contrasted with the negative cross-sectional substitution and the crowding-out effect. The global evaluation of the ATT and the spillover parameters shifts the spotlight from the policy effect on subsidised firms to the global effect of capital subsidy policies on the targeted territory. The empirical evaluation of a policy in Italy mainly directed towards small- and medium-sized firms shows that the impact on investments, turnover and employment is positive and large, but is negative on TFP. However, the employment growth is partially determined to the detriment of the untreated firms.
Risk of burnout in French entrepreneurs during the COVID-19 crisisSmall Business Economics - - 2022
Olivier Torrès, Alexandre Benzari, Christian Fisch, Jinia Mukerjee, Abdelaziz Swalhi, Roy Thurik
Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis presents manifest threats for entrepreneurs since their business survival is often directly at stake given the alarming economic downturn. This existential threat, together with their crucial role in the economy, is the reason for the plethora of public financial support schemes being implemented throughout the entire world. However, support schemes for mental health are lacking. We aim to investigate, first, whether burnout levels have increased during the crisis and, second, whether burnout levels during the COVID-19 crisis depend on the threat of becoming ill, having to stay at home due to the lockdown, and/or having to file for bankruptcy due to the economic downturn. We do so using seven data sets of French entrepreneurs with a temporal comparison of averages and two data sets of French entrepreneurs with a cross-sectional analysis of individuals. Our findings show that indeed, the risks of burnout have increased during the pandemic and that the threat of bankruptcy is the dominant threat. As an increasing number of studies in the entrepreneurship literature indicate that entrepreneurs’ mental health influences their activities, as well as the growth and sustainability of their ventures, our study is important and timely in its contribution, as it takes a close look at the perception of burnout in general and more specifically during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Plain English Summary
The risk of burnout in French entrepreneurs has increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, which calls for not only financial support but also other forms of support. The COVID-19 pandemic presents many threats for entrepreneurs since their business survival is often directly at stake. These threats are not just financial but also related to health, such as the threat of burnout. The findings of our study show that for French entrepreneurs, the threat of burnout increased after the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. This finding raises the question whether this outcome is due to the threat to health, the effects of the lockdown, or the threat of bankruptcy. It appears that all three factors play important roles, although the financial threat is the dominant threat. These findings call for the extension of entrepreneurial support systems beyond the financial area by also involving an “entrepreneurship care” aspect, which includes telephone support, webinars, and mental help facilities.
The importance of equity finance for R&D activitySmall Business Economics - Tập 33 - Trang 303-318 - 2008
Elisabeth Müller, Volker Zimmermann
This article analyzes the importance of equity finance for the R&D activity of small- and medium-sized enterprises. We use information on almost 6,000 German SMEs from a company survey. Using the intensity of banking competition at the district level as an instrument to control for endogeneity, we find that a higher equity ratio is conducive to a higher R&D intensity. Owners may only start R&D activities if they have the financial resources to sustain them until successful completion. We find a larger influence of the equity ratio for young companies. Equity may be more important for young companies which have to rely on the original equity investment of their owners since they have not yet accumulated retained earnings and can rely less on bank financing.
