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Using a comprehensive dataset on micro, small, and medium enterprises in India, we examine whether the gender of the owner matters in firm performance and in credit access from institutional sources. The study finds significant underperformance in the size, growth, and efficiency of firms owned by women when compared to those owned by men. In line with the evidence in the existing literature, our findings also support the view that women-owned firms are disadvantaged in the market for small-business credit. These findings suggest that addressing gender discrimination in the small-business credit market could help, partly, in bridging the performance gap between male-and female-owned firms.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in China have been hit hard by the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, which has jeopardized their going out of business altogether. As a result, this research will shed light on the long-term impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on small businesses worldwide. The information was gathered through a survey questionnaire that 313 people completed. Analyzing the model was accomplished through the use of SEM in this investigation. Management and staff at SMEs worldwide provided the study's data sources. Research shows that COVID-19 has a significantly bad influence on profitability, operational, economic, and access to finance. In the study's findings, outside funding aids have played an important role in SMEs' skill to persist and succeed through technological novelty than in their real output. SME businesses, administrations, and policymakers need to understand the implications of this study's results.

In this paper, we investigate whether innovative small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are more likely to be discouraged from applying for external finance than non-innovators. These so-called discouraged borrowers are credit worthy SMEs who choose not to apply for external finance despite the fact that this is needed. We find that SMEs undertaking pure product and joint product and process innovation have a significantly higher incidence of borrower discouragement than non-innovative counterparts. Moreover, radical and incremental product innovators are more likely to be discouraged relative to non-innovative counterparts. Innovative activity can increase borrower discouragement for a myriad of reasons including fear of rejection, reluctance to take on additional risk, negative perceptions of the funding application process and perceived negative economic conditions. Overall, our results suggest a need for targeted policy interventions in order to alleviate borrower discouragement within innovative SMEs, as well as a closer alignment between innovation and SME finance policy.Plain English SummaryInnovative SMEs play a crucial role in driving technological change and productivity growth. Therefore, understanding the factors shaping access to finance for innovative SMEs is of crucial importance to the economy. We investigate the potential impact of innovation activity on the incidence of borrower discouragement, credit worthy firms who choose not to apply for external finance despite the fact that it is required. The results of our empirical investigation suggest that SMEs undertaking pure product and joint product and process innovation have a significantly higher incidence of borrower discouragement than non-innovative counterparts. The principal implication of this study is that innovation is a factor, which self-limits access to finance for innovative SMEs. We offer recommendations to mitigate borrower discouragement in this context.

Purpose: To meet the needs of the public, the government has provided an official financial institution, which is subject to a certain series of administrations with all the calculations. The problem is that not all community members understand access to finance at these financial institutions. There are Islamic banking, BMT, and Sharia KSPPS, but in borrowing money they choose moneylenders. This problem is influenced by the ease of borrowing money from moneylenders, which are more flexible and the method of payment can be adjusted according to a special agreement between the customer and the moneylender. Disbursement of funds that can be done at any time according to the time needed, without being bound by conditions that are considered complicated by the customer. As a form of compensation, the interest charged by moneylenders is high and burdensome for the borrower. The risk of high-interest rates is often not taken into account by the borrower.   Design/Methodology/Approach: The method for developing public financial literacy is what the moneylender's practice as the object of observation. To be realized as an effort for educational methods is to conduct an analysis of moneylenders in the community and explore how people depend on moneylenders, evaluate financial behavior in the community, deconstruct financial behavior and re-conceptualize public financial behavior.   Findings: Socialization and acceleration of the marketing of financial products from the BMT, or official government financial institutions need to be carried out to prevent the level of community dependence on moneylenders, including by expanding financial literacy in the community, establishing management education methods, and implementing finance that is more inclusive in the community.   Research, Practical & Social Implications: The necessities of life for each individual in the community will certainly not be the same, to be able to fulfill the purpose of these needs it is financed by the availability of funds or financial means. There are members of the community who are relatively able to meet their financing needs, but not a few of the community have not met their needs.   Originality/Value: This study seeks to help the government and society in Indonesia to have a good education in terms of financial literacy, people need information and knowledge that currently in Indonesia there are many formal and legal financial institutions to help financial problems faced by people in Indonesia. Indonesian people are no longer just dependent on moneylenders or illegal financial institutions, which will instead trap them into new financial problems.

Coupling the practice-based view (PBV) of firms with dynamic capabilities theory (DCT), we assess the effect of Fintech adoption (FA) on organizational sustainability performance (SP) through circular economy practices (CEP). Additionally, this research examines the moderating roles of a firm’s access to finance (AF) and absorptive capacity (AC) in the interplays between the constructs. Three hundred responses were collected from Bangladeshi manufacturing SMEs using a structured questionnaire. We examined our conceptual model using a two-staged structural equation modeling-artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) approach. The empirical findings unveiled that Fintech adoption significantly drives organizational CEP and SP and that CEP acts as a mediator between the FA and SP linkage. Furthermore, the findings also confirmed the moderating effect of AF on the FA and CEP association and the impact of AC on the CEP and SP association. Hence, this scholarship adds pivotal insights to the extant literature by establishing the roles of multiple mediators and moderators in the interplay of FA and firms’ SP. Given the paucity of primary-data-based research, this empirical study addresses the gaps in the Fintech, CE, and sustainability literature and yields crucial implications for theory and practice.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between financial literacy, access to finance and growth among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) within the Midlands region of the UK. It assesses whether financial literacy assists SMEs to overcome information asymmetry, mitigates the need for collateral, optimizes capital structure and improves access to finance.Design/methodology/approachTo gain a deeper insight into the complex relationship between financial literacy, access to finance and growth, a qualitative research is carried out among SMEs that have operated for over five years or longer. Using the purposive sampling technique, 37 firms were selected based on size, location and characteristics, mainly from the city of Birmingham and the joining conurbations. Open-ended and a combination of dichotomous questions were used for the survey. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and thematically analyzed.FindingsFinancial literacy is an interconnecting resource that mitigates information asymmetry and collateral deficit when evaluating loan applications, therefore financial literacy should be part of school curriculum. The analysis suggests enhanced financial literacy, reduces monitoring cost and serves to optimize firms’ capital structure that positively impacts on SMEs growth. Financial management knowledge is recognized as the core resource that aids an effective decision making by owners of SMEs.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of this research is the small sample that limits its generalization. Its findings could be enhanced by a larger sample and by conducting comparative studies in other regions or economies. SMEs growth is seen as a strategic policy to stimulate enterprise but the finance gap tends to constrain that objective. The UK Government’s effort to improve access to finance and to mitigate excessive collateral demands by lenders has proved elusive. This empirical research provides evidence that financial literacy enhances access to finance and, in turn, promotes growth potentials.Practical implicationsThe results of this study advocate the provision of financial literacy at schools and target support for SMEs to acquire financial management skills in order to mitigate information asymmetry between lenders and borrowers.Social implicationsFindings suggest that financial literacy mediates access to finance, enables enterprises to use optimal financial structure to mitigate business failure, creates employment and reduces public sector support for social benefits.Originality/valueThis study is novel in that it examines financial literacy and its implications for access to finance and firm growth in the UK. The study is an effort to highlight the role of financial information in mitigating barriers to finance for SMEs.

Motivated by the international business literature that examines the interactions between organizations, corruption, and political forces, we examine whether and how government connections affect small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs) credit access around the world. Using a sample of SMEs across 30 developing countries, we show that SMEs with government connections are significantly less likely to be discouraged from approaching banks for a loan as compared to SMEs without such connections. However, connected SMEs do not receive preferential lending from banks. Moreover, the nature of this effect depends on the institutional setting. Specifically, the effect becomes stronger in countries with high levels of corruption, suggesting that government connections are substitutes for poorly functioning formal institutions. Our findings have important implications for policies targeted at reducing corruption, improving access to financing, facilitating entrepreneurship, and attracting foreign investment.

Role of the knowledge-based resources in promoting sustainability in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is currently a topic of debate. Financial literacy has been identified as a vital knowledge resource for financial decision making, but insufficient attention has been given to how SMEs’ financial literacy affects their sustainability. Drawing upon a knowledge-based perspective, peaking order theory and dual process theory, we constructed an integrated model to examine the impact of financial literacy, access to finance and financial risk attitude on SMEs’ sustainability. The sample included 291 chief financial officers (CFOs) of SMEs in Sri Lanka. The output of structural equation modelling revealed direct positive effects of financial literacy, access to finance and financial risk attitude on sustainability. Financial literacy also emerged as a predictor of access to finance and financial risk attitude. Moreover, access to finance and financial risk attitude were found to be partial mediators of the relationship between financial literacy and SMEs’ sustainability. Theoretical implications and practical implications for policymakers, industry practitioners and academics interested in promoting sustainability amongst SMEs are discussed.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how alertness enable small and medium scale enterprise (SME) owners to leverage their individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) such as risk-taking, pro-activity, innovation, passion and perseverance in a better way to recognize opportunities for financial resources as compared to their counterparts who are not alert. Moreover, it elaborates on the mediating role of opportunity recognition of financial resources between IEO and SMEs’ access to finance (AF). Design/methodology/approach A three-wave time-lagged survey from a stratified sample of 271 small and medium scale business owners in Pakistan was conducted and the data were analysed using PROCESS models 1 and 4. Findings The findings grounded in the theory of Action Regulation, signify that the IEO of small and medium scale business owners helps them attain financial resources through opportunity recognition capacity which is an action characteristic. Moreover, the IEO of SME owners, coupled with entrepreneurial alertness (EA; a cognitive pre-action state), amplifies their ability to recognize opportunities for financial resource availability. Originality/value This is one of the initial studies to test the IEO scale, including passion and perseverance. Moreover, it has added to the individual-level antecedents of AF in small and medium scale businesses through the role of EA and opportunity recognition.

This study investigates the role of microfinance services on women's entrepreneurship development in Assosa town. The study employed both descriptive and explanatory designs and a quantitative research approach. The study targeted 352 women clients of Assosa Woreda Microfinance Institution, and 165 samples were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed through the statistical package for social science (SPSS) 26 software. The findings from the descriptive mean analysis indicate that the microfinance institution financial and non-financial services offered were found unable to significantly empower disadvantaged and poor women by improving their livelihood and development of their business. The correlation result also indicated a positive and significant association between saving practice, access to credit, skill development training, and the development of women entrepreneurs. Finally, the regression result saving and the credit or loan services of the microfinance institution service have the most decisive influence on women's entrepreneurship development.