SME´s business environment: The case of Croatia
Vidučić, L., Vidučić, V., Boras, D., & Šušak, T.
Abstract:
Empirical research undertaken reveals that entrepreneurs both highly ranked cost of finance and access to finance, as a constraint to business which confirms hypothesis 1. Bank loans are very important source of investment finance due to modest capacity of alternative sources of finance. Government should increase capacity of development bank and funds for economic cooperation in order to provide concessional terms lending and equity finance. Furthermore, guarantee schemes should be increased and strengthened. Promotion of alternative finance sources such as venture capital, as well as measures for deepening of financial markets and increase of financial discipline will enrich supply of equity capital and creditworthiness, too. In order of shed light on current position as well as to predict future development of SME environment for operation and development in Croatia information model of entrepreneurs` perception of constraints for operation and development is formulated. Based on determination of main factors influencing quality of SMEs business environment, their evaluation for the year 2013 and their projections for the year 2016 and 2020 construction of the model resulted. Implementation of growth matrix rendered direct and indirect growth rate of the variables. This confirms hypothesis 2. Formulated model gives information to the economic policy decision makers that are necessary to direct small businesses growth. Greatest improvement is expected in the field of administrative barriers and legal system, while important improvement is expected for cost of finance and access to finance. Lowest direct rates are observable for entrepreneurial knowledge and supporting infrastructure urging policy measures dealing with these constraints.
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APA citation
- Vidučić, L., Vidučić, V., Boras, D., & Šušak, T. (2013). SME´s business environment: The case of Croatia. International Journal of Economic Sciences, 2(3), 152–165.