Access to finance appears to be among the most severe obstacles of the private firms’ growth particularly in developing and less developed countries. Using the micro data over 1,500 enterprises, our study aims to understand the determinants of firm-level access to external finance before and after the global financial crisis 2008-09, and how in general the crisis affected the financing obstacle...

The characteristics of firm's expansion by differentiated products and diversified products are quite different. However, the study employing absorptive capacity to examine the impacts of different modes of expansion on performance of small solar energy firms has never been discussed before. Then, a conceptual model to analyze the tension between strategies and corporate performance is proposed...

We examine how corporate transparency and financing choices differ for family and nonfamily firms in the S&P 1500 Index. While transparency on average is better for firms in the S&P 500 Index than for firms in the S&P MidCap 400 and S&P SmallCap 600 indices, the improvement is much larger for family firms. Outside the S&P 500, family firms are less transparent than their non-family counterparts...

We study the optimal combination of corporate tax rate and tax base in a model of a small open economy with heterogeneous firms. We show that it is optimal for the small country’s government to effectively subsidize capital inputs by granting a tax allowance in excess of the true costs of capital. Economic integration reduces the optimal capital subsidy and drives low-productivity firms from th...

Existing evidence indicates that standards of workplace health and safety are poorer in small and medium sized enterprises. Against this background, this paper aims to contribute to the understanding of how health and safety issues and risks are perceived and addressed in small firms. The paper begins by briefly summarising what is known about health and safety awareness and management in small...

If a small firm effect exists, one would expect to see a trend towards proportionately greater investment in small firms. Among the most sensitive investors would be institutional investors who are constantly seeking to maximize their portfolio's rankings. This study examines changes in institutional investments on the basis of firm size, price/earnings ratios and Timeliness rankings. Instituti...

We study the optimal combination of corporate tax rate and tax base in a model of a small open economy with heterogeneous firms. We show that it is optimal for the small country’s government to effectively subsidize capital inputs by granting a tax allowance in excess of the true costs of capital. Economic integration reduces the optimal capital subsidy and drives low-productivity firms from th...

The Internet was envisioned as a powerful tool enabling small firms to ‘level the playing field’ when competing with larger firms. Yet, the benefits of e-business are accruing to larger, rather than smaller, firms. Using the European Union’s definitions for micro, small, and medium-sized organizations (SMEs), the purpose of this study was to examine the implementation of e-business tools and te...