Abstract: This paper surveys empirical research that shows that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are more constrained by financing and other institutional obstacles than large enterprises, exacerbated by the weaknesses in the financial systems of many developing countries. We use the concept of the access possibilities frontier to explain how difficulties in managing risk and transaction cos...

The principal objective in this paper is to ascertain the extent to which Myers’ (1984) Pecking Order Theory (POT) of business financing appears to explain financial structure amongst a panel of 871 manufacturing SMEs legally organised as proprietary companies, taken from the Australian federal government’s Business Longitudinal Survey for three financial years from 1995-96 to 1997-98. The rese...

Under the difficult access to finance of SMEs, they expect that its relationship with the banks shall constitute a real help to access appropriate financing, at reasonable costs and requirements, given the possibility of mutually beneficial and long lasting relation. The literature, but also the research we have carried on, is centered on such determinants as concentration and the length of the...

The principal objective in this paper is to ascertain the extent to which industry appears to influence the financing behaviour of several thousand SMEs distributed across eleven industries, using data taken from the Australian federal government’s Business Longitudinal Survey for four financial years from 1994-95 to 1997-98. The research reported in the paper provide substantial empirical evid...

In China, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) tend to be slow in adopting and exploiting information technology (IT) as a means of enhancing their sustainability. It is vital for such firms to adopt IT in order to keep up with an IT-based global business environment. Otherwise, they may find themselves at a severe competitive disadvantage. This paper provides an insight into the low adoption of...

In light of the positive growing finance–private sector–economic growth findings, this article examines, from a supply side perspective, obstacles to private sector financing in Fiji, a growth deprived, small island developing state in the Pacific region. A survey of 80 percent of formal financial institutions reveals that, contrary to popular belief, financing the private sector may not be a m...

This paper conducts an in-depth analysis of the impacts of the global financial crisis on the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) small and medium enterprises (SMEs). It also provides relevant policy suggestions at the end. First, this paper reviews the impacts of the 1997 Asian financial crisis on the PRC’s SMEs, evaluating the policy measures for coping with the crisis at that time and summa...