融资困难已成为中小企业的发展瓶颈外文翻译.docVIP

外文翻译 原文 Small and medium-size enterprises: Access to finance as a growth constraint Material Source: Journal of Banking and Finance,2006,30:2931-2943. Author: Thorsten Beck 3 Constraints faced by SMEs: Impact on firm size, access to finance and growth While the previous section has shown that it might be difficult to justify the focus on SMEs on grounds of economic development and poverty alleviation, they account for a large share of enterprises and ‘‘SMEs are the emerging private sector in poor countries, and thus form the base for private sector-led growth’’ (Hallberg,2001). Ayyagari et al.(in press) show that employment in SMEs, defined as enterprises with up to 250 employees, constitutes over 60% of total employment in manufacturing in many countries (Fig.2). Further, financial and institutional deficiencies might prevent SMEs from growing to their optimal size and thus explain the lack of an empirical causal link between SMEs and economic development. Thus, it is crucial to understand obstacles to SMEs’ operation and growth and how they vary with country factors. Both in the developing and developed world small firms have been found to have less access to external finance and to be more constrained in their operation and growth. Recent cross-country firm-level surveys have enabled researchers to not only explore firm-differences within specific countries, but also to compare firms across countries and link differences to country characteristics such as financial and institutional development. The World Business Environment Survey (WBES) is a unique firm-level survey conducted in 1999 and 2000 for over 10,000 firms in more than 80 countries. First, this database provides information on the obstacles as perceived by the firms and allows researchers to relate these obstacles to actual firm growth. Second, the database contains information on a broad cross-section of different types of firms, including a large number of small and medium-size enterprises, firms o