Browsing by Author "Fink, Matthias"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Corporate governance regulation, legal origin and small business access to credit: a cross-european comparison
    (Financial Management Association, 2016-10-31) Maresch, Daniela; Moro, Andrea; Fink, Matthias
    In this cross-European study, we investigate the impact of two specific corporate governance mechanisms (shareholder rights and regulations on related-party transactions) on firms’ decision to apply for credit and the banks’ lending decision. We argue that this impact is contingent upon the legal origin that shapes the regulatory institutional setting in which the corporate governance mechanisms are embedded. We perform a cross-European comparison based on 45,596 firm-level observations from 13 countries. Logit regression reveals that corporate governance does not directly influence the banks' lending decision or the firms' decision to apply for credit. Rather, the impact of corporate governance on firms’ credit access unfolds through regulatory institutional contexts that are shaped only by specific legal origins. Our findings help to explain why firms in different countries are financed so differently by highlighting the relevance of the embeddedness of corporate governance mechanisms in regulatory institutional settings. For research, our findings call for more multi- level work. For business practice, our findings imply that a well-designed governance regime regarding shareholder protection can foster firms’ access to bank finance, and thus innovation and economic growth. For legislators, we highlight the importance of ensuring a fit between corporate governance mechanisms and the specifics of the national regulatory environment.
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    Loan managers' decisions and trust in entrepreneurs in different institutional contexts
    (Taylor & Francis, 2017-11-17) Moro, Andrea; Fink, Matthias; Maresch, Daniela; Fredriksson, Antti
    Loan managers’ trust in entrepreneurs can be a useful tool for overcoming entrepreneurial firms’ opaqueness. Nevertheless, the possibility for loan managers to leverage trust can be affected by differences in the regulative institutions within the banks (type of bank) and by place-bound normative institutions (social context). By relying on semi-structured interviews and a survey of 450 bank-entrepreneur relationships, this study finds that a positive impact of trust in lending relationships is sensitive to different place-bound normative institutions and to the regulative institutions within the banks. The results are robust with respect to potential endogeneity issues.
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    Spillover effects of government initiatives fostering entrepreneurship on the access to bank credit for entrepreneurial firms in Europe
    (Elsevier, 2020-03-06) Moro, Andrea; Maresch, Daniela; Fink, Matthias; Ferrando, Annalisa; Piga, Claudio A.
    We explore the role of government initiatives fostering entrepreneurship—in the form of tax advantages and government support—in influencing the probability that entrepreneurial firms obtain bank credit and are not discouraged from applying for a loan. We propose that government initiatives fostering entrepreneurship should allow entrepreneurial firms to access more bank credit by reducing the risk incurred by lenders. We simultaneously estimate the probability of obtaining credit when a firm applies for a loan and the probability that the firm has been discouraged when it does not apply for a loan. In both cases we control for endogeneity. Our results are based on 18,872 observations (from the European Central Bank (ECB) SAFE dataset and Global Entrepreneurship Monitor – GEM) and show that government initiatives improve the probability of entrepreneurial firms obtaining bank credit but do not affect the probability of being discouraged from borrowing. The results also suggest that government initiatives fostering entrepreneurship are of most benefit to younger, smaller, high-growth, and more innovative firms that operate in contexts where the demand for, and accordingly the competition for, bank credit is strongest.
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    Trust, control and knowledge transfer in small business networks
    (Springer, 2017-08-14) Massaro, Maurizio; Moro, Andrea; Aschauer, Ewald; Fink, Matthias
    The ability to transfer knowledge effectively in the networks of small and medium-sized firms (SMEs) is paramount for supporting firm competitiveness. Our research is the first one that explores the joint effect of trust and control mechanisms on knowledge transfer in the case of networks of SMEs. We use a multiple case study approach based on six Italian networks of SMEs. We analyse the joint impact of different ethical based trustworthiness factors—namely benevolence and integrity—and the levers of control (LOCs)—namely, belief, boundary, diagnostic and interactive LOCs—on knowledge transfer between SMEs in networks. We find that trust substitutes for the implementation of boundary, diagnostic, and belief tools, while it works jointly with interactive tools in order to support knowledge transfer. These insights not only provide a rich foundation for follow-up research, but also inform SME managers about how to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of knowledge transfer with their network partners.