HGSMEs & Innovation
“Access to Finance”
Module
A Proposal for a Pilot Survey
Questionnaire
(Draft)
THE OBJECTIVES OF THE PILOT SURVEY
The Main Objective:
Detecting and Tracking Financing Gaps !
What for an approach?
Limited advantages from a static approach: the analysis of
financing gaps must vary according to firm size and sector of
activity
Collateral Objective:
P. Sicari
Determining wether debt and equity
finance vehicles display a different
impact on firms’ growth, taking firm
size and sector of activity into
account
OECD
Statistics Directorate
THE SURVEY’S TARGET
1. Because of their pioneering role in economic
growth.
2. Because of their easier access to risk capital,
that allows for a fair comparison of the
(allegedly) different impacts of debt and
equity finance on growth.
P. Sicari
OECD
Statistics Directorate
MAIN FEATURES OF THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (1)
Two different but parallel level of analysis:
• Growth-Oriented Investments and Expenditures
•Financing Vehicles
The survey will highlight not only the firms’ demand for every
category of financing vehicle, but also its causal link to
specific forms of investments!
P. Sicari
OECD
Statistics Directorate
MAIN FEATURES OF THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (2)
Firms will be requested to specify:
The total amount of new Growth-Oriented
Investments and Expenditures made during the
reference year.
The amounts of new Growth-Oriented I&Es
directed to the following sub-categories: ICT,
PRODUCT, PROCESS and HUMAN RESOURCES.
How, in percentage terms, the 4 amounts of the
previous point were subdivided into (suggested)
components.
P. Sicari
OECD
Statistics Directorate
MAIN FEATURES OF THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (3)
Firms will be requested to specify:
How new Growth-Oriented Investments and
Expenditures were financed, by indicating the total
amount covered through Debt and/or Equity
finance.
How, in percentage terms, total amounts of Debt
and Equity were subdivided into single Debt and/or
Equity financing vehicles.
Whether planned Growth-Oriented I&Es have
been somehow affected by an inability in borrowing
sufficient funds.
P. Sicari
OECD
Statistics Directorate
MAIN FEATURES OF THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE (4)
Specific sections surveying the relationship
between firms and debt/equity finance providers.
Objective ?
Trying to determine the exact source of possible financing gaps:
Are they demand-side or supply-side?
P. Sicari
OECD
Statistics Directorate
MAIN FEATURES OF THE SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
(4BIS)
How to define the exact nature of financing gaps?
oBy exactly determining the temporal sequence of active and
passive interventions of all possible finance providers (Who
was the first provider the firm applied to? Successfully or
unsuccessfully?)
oBy demanding the firm to indicate all possible reasons that
could explain its failure in reaching agreements with debt
and/or equity providers
P. Sicari
OECD
Statistics Directorate
THE POLICY IMPLICATIONS (1)
SMEs
FINANCE
PROVIDERS
P. Sicari
Usually claim they have a restricted
access to financing due to shortage of
supply
Claim there is plenty of “unplaced”
financing due to low average quality of
firms’ investment projects
OECD
Statistics Directorate
THE POLICY IMPLICATIONS (2)
POLICY MAKERS
What policy to foster Access to
Finance?
Supply-Side
Oriented
Demand-Side
Oriented
Policies aiming at
improving HGISME
investment readiness and
fostering the quality of
their growth strategies.
Policies aiming at easing
access to bank loans for
HGISMEs, usually by
means of state guarantee
schemes.
P. Sicari
OECD
Statistics Directorate
THE POLICY IMPLICATIONS (3)
POLICY MAKERS
….the Current Situation……
Absolute prevalence
of supply-sideoriented supporting
policies
P. Sicari
Increasing
commitment towards
rationalization of
public spending
OECD
Statistics Directorate
THE POLICY IMPLICATIONS (4)
…to conclude, an example of the main policy issues addressed by
the survey questionnaire:
 If almost all public policies supporting SME’s access to finance aim at
reducing restrictions by compensating finance providers for higher
operational risks;
 and if, as it seems to be, there is no clear evidence of any global shortage
of financial resources to invest:
Aren’t we by chance just fuelling market imperfections by not focusing on
the demand-side in order to improve the investment readiness of firms,
while preferring to act through risk compensation schemes that might
produce inefficient spending???
(additional resources would flow right were they are already available)
P. Sicari
OECD
Statistics Directorate