英语翻译
Thereisgrowingrecognitionoftheimportanceofsmallandmedium-sizedenterprises
(SMEs)toeconomicdevelopment.Inmanycountries,SMEsmakeupthe
majorityofbusinessesandaccountforthehighestproportionofemployment.The
economicandsocialcontributionsofSMEssuggestthatitisinthepublicinterest
forSMEstothrive(FisherandReuber2000).However,SMEsoftenhavedifficulty
financingtheiroperations.Biekpe(2004)arguesthatmostsmallbusinesses,
especiallyinsub-SaharanAfrica,failintheirfirstyearduetolackofsupportfrom
governmentandtraditionalbanks.
Priorresearchhasnotedthatbanksareamajorsourceofexternalcapitalfor
smallfirms(seeColeandWolken1995;PetersenandRajan1994;Scherretal.
1993).However,smallfirmsfinditmoredifficulttoobtainbankloansthandolargefirms(Orseretal.1994;PetersonandSchulman1987).Binksetal.(1992)
cautionthatsmallbusinesses’restrictedaccesstobankdebtmaynotbedirectly
attributabletotheirsize,butrathertoproblemsassociatedwiththeavailabilityof
informationusedtoevaluateaproject,orinformationasymmetry.Banksgenerally
preferborrowerswithgoodtrackrecordsofprofitability,somedegreeoflongevity,
longer-termbankingrelationships,andassetsthatcanbeusedascollateral(Berger
andUdell1995;ColeandWolken1995;EnnewandBinks1995;Weinberg1994),
andtheyemploycertainstrategiestominimizetherisksindealingwithpotential
loanborrowers.Toreflectthegreateruncertaintyofrepayment,banksmayraise
theinterestratesonloanstoriskierborrowers,suchassmallbusinesses(Berger
andUdell1995).