Financial Structure and Financing Constraints: Evidence on Small- and Medium-Sized Enterprises in China

• Main Authors: Sumei Luo, Yuxi Zhang, Guangyou Zhou
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-05-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: SME financing; financial structure; small- and medium-sized banks; sustainable development
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/6/1774

The difficulty of financing for small- and medium-sized enterprises is an important problem that has plagued China’s economic development for a long time, so it is of great practical significance to explore how to solve the problem of financing difficulties for small- and medium-sized enterprises. From the perspective of financial structure, this paper introduces it to the analytical framework of the investment-cash flow sensitivity model, and establishes a two-way fixed effect model on the basis of the financial structure and other external financing conditions, so as to study the impact of the financial structure in China, especially the banking structure, on the financing constraints of small- and medium-sized enterprises. At the same time, the data of 161 listed companies on the Small and Medium Enterprise Board from 2009 to 2013 is used to carry out an empirical test on the correlation between the financial structure factors and the financing constraints of small- and medium-sized enterprises. The study shows that the promotion of the scale ratio of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the banking industry is able to significantly alleviate the financing constraints of small- and medium-sized enterprises. Meanwhile, the structure of the banking industry should adapt to the industrial structure, in order to achieve the sustained and stable development of the real economy.