The access to finance by SMSs in Turkey and the EU: acomparative study

Abstract

Purpose-Access to finance is one of the major factors in the growth of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), which comprise 99% of companies in Turkey and the EU and have a large impact on GDP and unemployment. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to compare status and changes in the access to finance of SMEs in Turkey and the EU. And additionally, to evaluate the access to finance of Turkish SMEs according to their associate status, location, business area, exports, liquid assets, and establishment time. Methodology- In developing the questionnaire used in this survey, some of the questions from the Survey on the Access to Finance of Enterprises (SAFE 2017) conducted in October 2017 on the EU SMEs, were modified. The questionnaire was sent to SMEs in Turkey through KOSGEB (Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Development and Support Agency (KucukveOrtaOlcekliIsletmeleriGelistirmeveDesteklemeIdaresiBaskanligi)) via e-mail. The response percentages obtained were compared with the response percentages from SAFE 2017. Also using analyses such as chi-square and multiple regression (SPSS) significant relations between answers of Turkish SMEs were determined. Findings- According to the results of the questionnaire conducted and SAFE 2017, the second biggest issue for SMEs in Turkey is the access to finance, while this issue is the least important for SMEs in the EU; the increase in availability of financial sources for SMEs in the EU is much larger and they use them mostly for new investments, while SMEs in Turkey use them mostly for inventories; expenses for SMEs in Turkey such as labor and raw material cost increased more, which probably led to a decrease in profit and an increase in debts. According to multiple regression and chi-square analysesata5% significance level, it is found that the amount of credit received by SMEs in Turkey, and the usage of loans from family and friends are significantly affected by the age, number of employees, turnover level, export level, business area, and geographical location of the company. The usage of government loans and incentives by SMEs in Turkey is significantly affected by age, the number of employees, and the export level of the company. The usage of bank loans by SMEs in Turkey is significantly affected by the age, turnover level, export level, and the number of employees of the company. The usage of leasing and trade credits by SMEs in Turkey is significantly affected by the age, the number of employees, turnover level, export level, business area, geographical location, and the partnership status of the company. Conclusion-There is a limited number of studies focusing on access to finance for SMEs in Turkey. They mostly tend to concentrate only on problematic supply-side factors and miss to show the significant relationship between demand-side factors, meaning SMEs' characteristics, and access to finance. At the same time, to our best knowledge, there is not any study directly comparing Turkish SMEs to the European SMEs except SAFE reports, which take only 300 SMEs in Turkey into consideration. On the other hand, this study takes 1,518 SMEs in Turkey into consideration and compares SMEs in Turkey and the EU according to their characteristics and access to finance.