Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia. Poslovne banke in MSP: Primer Slovenije

Transcription

1 Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia Assist. Prof. Jaka Vadnjal, PhD; lecturer Marina Letonja, M.Sc. GEA College of Entrepreneurship, Slovenia Poslovne banke in MSP: Primer Slovenije docent dr. Jaka Vadnjal, mag. Marina Letonja GEA College, Visoka ola za podjetnitvo, Slovenija Abstract: In the European tradition debt nancing through commercial banks is the most important source for SMEs, either for current operations or for investment purposes. During early stages of their development, SMEs are mainly nanced through informal sources however banks may already become an important additional source in cases when SMEs can provide collateral. This paper gives insights into the experience of Slovenian SMEs with commercial banks as the source of nancing collected with a survey of SMEs, and some other empirical evidence. Entrepreneurs have ranked their problems with nancing, mostly with debt nancing and they provided some proposals to improve the banking practice. Government programs for SME nancial assistance are discusses as well. Key words: small and medium sized businesses, commercial banks, debt nancing, banking practice, nancial assistance. Izvle ek: V evropski tradiciji je dolniko nanciranje s strani poslovnih bank najpomembneji vir nanciranja tako teko ega poslovanja kot investicij v MSP. V zgodnjih fazah razvoja so MSP v glavnem nancirana skozi neformalne vire, vendar banke e postajajo pomemben dodatni vir v primerih, ko lahko MSP zagotovijo porotvo. Referat predstavlja izkunje slovenskih MSP s poslovnimi bankami kot virom nanciranja, ki smo jih zbrali z raziskavo v MSP in iz drugih izkustvenih podatkov. Podjetniki so razvrstili svoje probleme s nanciranjem, v glavnem z dolnikim nanciranjem, in nanizali nekaj predlogov za izboljanje ban ne prakse. Prav tako so predstavljeni programi nan ne pomo i MSP. lju ne besede: mala in srednje velika podjetja, poslovne banke, dolniko nanciranje, ba na praksa, nan na podpora.. Introduction It is widely recognised that one of the main handicaps suffered by SMEs, particularly micro businesses and start-ups, is the dif culty in obtaining capital and credit. The predominant causes as given by the European Commission (00) are imperfect information, the risk-averse nature of investors and lending institutions and the limited guarantees that SMEs are in a position to offer. High transaction and due diligence costs relative to the amount of loan being provided is an important obstacle.. Uvod Splono je znano, da je ena najve jih razvojnih ovir MSP, predvsem mikro podjetij in novih podjetij, teek dostop do kapitala in posojil. Prevladujo i razlogi, kot jih navaja Evropska komisija (00a), so pomanjkljive informacije, zna ilnost, da imajo investitorji in posojilne ustanove odpor do tveganja in omejena zavarovanja, ki jih lahko ponudijo MSP. Pomembna ovira so visoki transakcijski stroki in stroki preveritve poslovanja (due dilligence) v odnosu na velikost posojila.

2 Jaka Vadnjal, Marina Letonja While for start-ups there are traditionally F (family, friends, and fools) sources of starting capital, commercial bank (we will use simply bank) lending is the major external source of enterprise nance later on. Europe has a long tradition in loan nance and bank loans are the most common, and for many SMEs the only external source of funds (EC, 00b). SMEs in candidate countries face similar access to nance problems as their EU counterparts, however to a greater extent. While banks had some experience with nancing private crafts businesses, they were less used to work with the new private enterprise sector that has only existed for just over ten years. The latter need more capital for growth. Also, these businesses have had insuf cient time to build up a good equity base to offer strong guarantees and they have been more growth-driven. Banks only slowly developed experience in lending to SMEs and assessing the projects that they presented. Also, most entrepreneurs lack business experience and know-how in business planning which increases the reluctance of banks to lend to them. While EC (00b, p. ) is counting on foreign banks taking control of local banks, transferring skills and applying the latest techniques in risk assessment and risk management to SME customers, this could hardly be the case with Slovenia due to a minor involvement of foreign banks, in particular with SMEs. However, government has also tried several publicly funded risk-sharing instruments but only few SMEs really exploited this chance due to limited amount of resources and partial territorial coverage. II. Literature review Myers () believes that small rms meet their nancial needs in a hierarchical manner rst by using internal equity, followed by borrowing from commercial lenders, and, nally, by using outside equity. De Visscher et al. () point out that funding is one of the most intriguing challenges small businesses face. Many of those businesses fail because there is insuf cient capital and liquidity. However, the nancial market change and banks often report that deposits exceed total lending to companies, thus making SMEs Medtem ko so za nova podjetja tradicionalno zna ilni F (family- druina, friends - prijatelji, fools - norci) viri zagonskega kapitala, pa so poslovne banke (v nadaljevanju: banke) kasneje najpomembneji zunanji vir nanciranja podjetij. Evropa ima dolgo tradicijo dolnikega nanciranja in ban na posojila so najpogosteji in za mnoga MSP edini zunanji vir sredstev (EC, 00b). MSP v dravah kandidatkah se soo ajo s podobnimi problemi dostopa do nan nih sredstev kot druge drave lanice, vendar v ve jem obsegu. Medtem, ko so imele banke nekaj izkuenj s nanciranjem zasebnih obratovalnic, so bile manj vajene poslovati z novim zasebnim podjetnikim sektorjem, ki je obstajal ele nekaj ve kot deset let. Ta potrebuje ve kapitala za rast. Razen tega so ta podjetja imelo premalo asa za oblikovanje dobre baze lastnikega kapitala, da bi zagotovila mo na jamstva in bila so bolj usmerjena v rast. Banke so po asi pridobile izkunje na podro ju nanciranja MSP in ocenjevanja projektov, ki jih je ta sektor predstavljal. Prav tako ve ina podjetnikov nima poslovnih izkuenj in znanja na podro ju poslovnega na rtovanja, kar vpliva na pove anje nezaupanja bank do posojil MSP. Medtem ko EC (00b, p. ) ra una, da bodo tuje banke prevzele nadzor nad lokalnimi bankami, transfernimi ve inami in uporabo sodobnih tehnik ocene tveganja in tveganega poslovodenja do MSP, se to v Sloveniji ne more zgoditi zaradi manje vklju enosti tujih bank, e posebej v sektor MSP. Vlada je preizkusila tudi ve javno nanciranih instrumentov porazdelitve tveganja, vendar je lahko le nekaj MSP resni no izkoristilo prilonost zaradi omejenega obsega sredstev in delnega pokrivanja ozemlja. II. Pregled literature Myers () verjame, da mala podjetja pokrivajo svoje nan ne potrebe na hierarhi en na in najprej z uporabo notranjega lastnikega kapitala, ki mu sledijo posojila s strani poslovnih bank in kon no uporaba zunanjega lastnikega kapitala. De Visscher et al. () poudarja, da je nanciranje eden najbolj zapletenih izzivov, s katerimi se soo ajo mala podjetja. Mnoga mala podjetja propadejo zaradi nezadostnega kapitala in nelikvidnosti. Vendar, nan ni trgi se spreminjajo in banke pogosto poro ajo, da

3 Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia not any more dif cult to raise nance in their more mature stages (Wilson, 00). Haynes and Avery () even believe that attitude of owners/mangers to nance their business operations with their personal savings (hidden nancing) is a particular problem because owners simply do not want to add additional debt burden to family and business system. Ang et al. () point out that business nances and family nances are often inextricably intertwined. Haynes et al. () explain that intermingling of business and family nances is a logical consequence of efforts of owners/managers to achieve highest possible ef ciency of capital (debt or equity) used both for business and family needs. Coleman and Carsky () compared the nancial resource structure of different generation family businesses and found out that higher generation family businesses (second and third) are willing to take on more debt then founder-managed rms. This was also con rmed by Schulwolf (00) who further elaborated that lenders often had dif culties in understanding who actually led a particular family business. Hufft () examined the ownership structure of small rms compared to their growth potential. His observations show that non-family rms tend to grow faster than family-controlled rms, while on the long run there was no signi cant difference. He suggests that external nancing of business operations should be observed in the context of determination of the objectives of the rm. In comparison to the wide range of funding alternatives open to publicly held companies, family businesses have much more limited options when it comes to raising capital. However, this can be also observed from the viewpoint of the supply side of the nancial market. Upton and Petty () explore the ability of a small rm to attract outside sources of nance. When they asked venture capital rms about reasons for rejecting different proposals coming from family rms, the responses included commonly recognised family business weaknesses like family con ict, unstable family members or inability of the entrepreneur or the family to let go. For similar reasons, Caselli () was able to nd only one among a large number of entrepreneurial businesses in Italy, who managed to make it to the stock exchange. depoziti presegajo posojila podjetjem, kar pomeni, da MSP v zrelejem obdobju ne bodo ve imela problemov pri pridobivanju nanc. (Wilson, 00). Haynes in Avery () celo verjameta, da predstavlja odnos lastnikov/ menederjev do nanciranja poslovanja s svojimi skrivnimi prihranki (prikrito nanciranje) poseben problem, ker lastniki preprosto ne elijo sprejeti dodatnih dolnikih bremen na ramena druine in poslovnega sistema. Ang et al. () poudarjajo, da se poslovne in druinske nance esto mo no prepletajo. Haynes et al. () pojasnjujejo, da je meanje poslovnih in druinskih nanc logi na posledica lastnikov/menederjev, da doseejo najvijo mono u inkovitost kapitala (dolnikega ali lastnikega), uporabljenega za poslovne in druinske namene. Coleman in Carsky () sta primerjala strukturo nan nih virov razli nih generacij druinskih podjetij in ugotovila, da so druinska podjetja vijih generacij (druga, tretja generacija) bolj pripravljena sprejeti dolniko nanciranje kot pa podjetja, ki jih upravljajo ustanovitelji. To je potrdil tudi Schulwolf (00), ki je ugotovil, da se posojilodajalci pogosto soo ajo s problemi razumevanja, kdo sploh vodi dolo eno druinsko podjetje. Hufft () je raziskal lastniko strukturo malih podjetij v primerjavi z njihovim potencialom rasti. Njegova opazovanja odkrivajo, da nedruinska podjetja rastejo hitreje od podjetij, ki jih nadzirajo druine, medtem ko na dolgi rok ni bilo bistvene razlike. Predlaga, da se opazuje zunanje nanciranje poslovanja podjetij z vidika dolo itve ciljev podjetja. V primerjavi s irokim izborom alternativ nanciranja, ki so na razpolago javnim podjetjem, imajo druinska podjetja dosti bolj omejene opcije za pridobitev kapitala. Prav isto lahko opazimo na ponudbeni strani nan nega trga. Upton in Petty () raziskujeta sposobnost malega podjetja, da pritegne zunanje vire nanciranja. Ko sta vpraala tvegane kapitaliste o razlogih zavrnitve razli nih predlogov, ki so jih podala druinska podjetja, so odgovori vklju evali splono znane slabosti druinskih podjetij, kot so druinski spori, nestabilni druinski lani ali nesposobnost podjetnika ali druine, da spusti podjetje iz svojih rok. Iz podobnih razlogov je Caselli () nael le eno med mnogimi malimi podjetji v Italiji, ki se je bilo sposobno prebiti do borze.

4 Jaka Vadnjal, Marina Letonja In contrast to that, McMahon (00) argues that growth is simply a consequence of the adopted nancial decisions and suggests that promotion of sound nancial planning skills including capital budgeting could be instrumental in encouraging the growth perspective of family rms. However, the reluctance to take on higher level of debt still remains one of the peculiarities of small businesses (Olson et al., 00). III. Propositions and research methodology We studied some aspects of bank lending to SMEs with a survey of SMEs in Slovenia, conducted in early 00, as compared to some previous ndings. We will try to highlight several propositions: P: Slovenian start-ups are mainly nanced through own resources of founders and other emotion-related sources. Banks have only a minor role in this stage of SME development. P: Banks become the main source of working and investment capital for SMEs in Slovenia. Problems of SME debt nancing are therefore related to banks capacity to deal with SMEs. P: In this role, Slovenian banks have to improve further their capacity to deal with SMEs. P: To enhance the role of banks, the government has to support SMEs with several risk-sharing investments allocating appropriate nancial resources to this objective. As part of a government-.funded research on the development of a comprehensive system of SME nancing in Slovenia, a research consortium (University of Ljubljana Faculty of Economics, Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, Institute of Business Law, Maribor, and GEA College of Entrepreneurship, Portoro) conducted a survey among Slovenian SMEs. Extensive questionnaires have been mailed to over 000 SMEs in January 00, chosen randomly from the business directory involving incorporated businesses and sole proprietors. questionnaires of appropriate quality have been collected (with response rate about %) giving a speci c structure of respondents (shares in Table add up to 00 %). Since debt nancing is more of a problem for production oriented SMEs, data sample V nasprotju s tem pa McMahon (00) trdi, da je rast preprosto posledica sprejetih nan nih odlo itev in predlaga, da postane promocija sposobnosti zdravega nan nega na rtovanja, vklju no s prora unom kapitala, klju na pri pospeevanju perspektive rasti druinskih podjetij. Odpor do prevzemanja vijih stopenj zadolevanja ostaja ena od posebnih zna ilnosti malih podjetij (Olson et al., 00). III. Hipoteze in metode raziskovanja S pomo jo ankete smo raziskali nekatere vidike ban nih posojil MSP v Sloveniji. Izvedena je bila v za etku leta 00 in primerjana z nekaterimi ugotovitvami iz preteklosti. V nadaljevanju obravnavamo naslednje hipoteze: H: Slovenska start-up (nova) podjetja so najpogosteje nancirana z lastnikimi viri nanciranja in drugimi ustveno povezanimi viri. Banke igrajo v tej razvojni fazi podjetij manj pomembno vlogo. H: Banke postajajo glavni vir nanciranja obratnega in investicijskega kapitala za MSP v Sloveniji. Zato so problemi dolnikega nanciranja MSP povezani s sposobnostjo bank, da poslujejo z MSP. H: V tej vlogi morajo slovenske banke izboljati svoje sposobnosti poslovanja z MSP. H: Da bi pove ala vlogo bank, mora vlada podpreti MSP z razli nimi s tveganjem porazdeljenimi investicijami, tako da alocira ustrezna nan na sredstva v ta cilj. Kot del vladno nancirane raziskave o razvoju splonega sistema nanciranja MSP v Sloveniji, je raziskovalni konzorcij (Univerza v Ljubljani Ekonomska fakulteta, Center za razvoj podjetnitva, Intitut za poslovno pravo, Maribor, in GEA College Visoka ola za podjetnitvo, Portoro) izvedel raziskavo med slovenskimi MSP. Januarja 00 so bili razposlani obirni vpraalniki na preko 000 MSP, ki so bila izbrana naklju no iz poslovnega imenika, ki vkljuuje gospodarske drube in samostojne podjetnike. Vrnjenih je bilo vpraalnikov, ustrezne kakovosti (stopnja odzivnosti %), ki podajajo speci no strukturo anketiranih (delei v Tabeli znotraj 00 %). Ker je dolniko nanciranje bolj problem proizvodno usmerjenih MSP, je bil vzorec

5 Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia was activity biased: we doubled the share of production-oriented SMEs and halved the share of retail trade shops in the sample, which in the practice represent the majority of SMEs. In this way,, % of SMEs in survey listed production as their core activity,,% construction, 0,0% transport and communication, 0,0% nancial and other business services, and only,% trade, with, % listing other activities or a mix of several activities. IV. Structure of nancing Statistics on loan nance for SMEs are generally of low quality or non-existent (EC, 00b) and they especially ignore sole proprietorship although over 0 % of business units belong to that group. In Slovenia, we have more data collected on dynamic SMEs (iek and Liechtenstein, : Peni ny,, 000 and 00). The share of dynamic SMEs, using speci c source of nancing at different stages in their life-cycle, is given in Table. Table provides the share of SMEs using speci c source, it does not give the share of nancing from each of the sources listed. However, it clearly points to the fact that sources of nancing change over the lifecycle and they differ for average SME and dynamic SMEs. Dynamic SMEs represent the high-end group of SMEs that should have the easiest access to funding due to their promising growth. However, at the start-up phase it is rather dif cult to assess their growth potential and they also rely rst on the funds of founders, family and friends. Yet, banks already enter as the second most important source and SMEs re-invest pro ts and rely on suppliers. Banks become far more important later, with an established track record of SMEs, their improved capacity to offer guarantees and more long-term relationship with at least one bank. It is obvious that even in this group of SMEs, external equity investments are not nearly that much involved and the governments role is rather modest. V. SMEs problems with nancing The dominance of bank lending is well projected into the problems of SMEs with their nancing. Lack of capital is mostly cited as a problem of SMEs in transition countries (OECD,, p. ) and SMEs tend to be under-capitalised. The traditional podatkov razdeljen glede na aktivnosti: podvojili smo dele proizvodno usmerjenih MSP v vzorcu in razpolovili dele trgovin na drobno, eprav v praksi le-te predstavljajo ve ino MSP. Tako je % MSP, vklju enih v raziskavo, navedlo proizvodnjo kot njihovo glavno dejavnost,,% gradbenitvo, 0,0% transport in komunikacije, 0,0% nan ne in druge poslovne storitve, in samo,% trgovino, medtem ko je, % anketiranih opredelilo druge aktivnosti ali meanico razli nih aktivnosti. IV. Struktura nanciranja Statistika o dolnikem nanciranju MSP je na splono slabe kakovosti ali pa celo ne obstaja (EC, 00b) in e posebej zapostavlja samostojne podjetnike, pa eprav ve kot 0% poslovnih enot spada v to skupino. V Sloveniji imamo ve zbranih podatkov o dinami nih podjetjih. (iek in Liechtenstein, : Peni ny,, 000 in 00). V tabeli predstavljamo dele dinami nih MSP, ki koristijo speci ne vire nanciranja v razli nih stopnjah ivljenjskega cikla. Tabela prikazuje dele MSP, ki koristijo speci ne vire, ne razkriva pa delea nanciranja vsakega navedenega vira. Kakorkoli, tabela jasno razkriva dejstvo, da se viri nanciranja skozi ivljenjski cikel spreminjajo in da se razlikujejo za povpre na in dinami na MSP. Dinami na MSP predstavljajo najboljo skupino MSP, ki bi naj imela lahek dostop do nanciranja zaradi obetavne rasti. Vendar je v zagonski fazi zelo teko oceniti njihov potencial rasti in tudi ta podjetja se najprej zanaajo na sredstva ustanoviteljev, druine in prijateljev. Sedaj banke e vstopajo kot drugi najpomembneji vir in MSP reinvestirajo dobi ke in se zanaajo na dobavitelje. Banke postanejo mnogo bolj pomembne kasneje, ko imajo MSP dolo eno preteklost, izboljano sposobnost zavarovanja posojil in dolgoro neje odnose z vsaj eno banko. Celo v tej skupini MSP je videti, da e niso zelo vklju eni zunanji lastniki viri nanciranja in vloga drave je precej skromna. V. Problemi MSP s nanciranjem Prevlada ban nih posojil se odraa v problemih nanciranja MSP. Pomanjkanje kapitala je najpogosteje omenjan problem MSP v dravah v tranziciji (OECD,, str. ) in MSP so ve inoma

6 Jaka Vadnjal, Marina Letonja problems with nancing (OECD,, p. ) also play role with Slovenian SMEs, but lately their ranking has changed. We asked the SMEs in the Slovenian survey to assess dif culties they encounter with the access to capital and also to identify business areas where nancing is most serious considering the amount of capital needed and term structure of sources. SMEs identi ed the limited access to public funds (rank ) as the single most important problem offering bene cial conditions for capital. Slovenian SMEs are already used to the important role of the government in enabling access to capital. They also complained about the lack of good nancial advisors (), since entrepreneurs lack own nancial expertise (consider their education, Table ). Problems in collecting receivables () are serious, but less pronounced than in former surveys when they ranked rst. The absence of private investors is noted () but not high on the priority list. All other problems are related to the access to bank loans although some resemble the same problem in dealing with public funds. The most important problems are related to the cost of capital. This account for both: insurance costs and other related costs of loans and interest rate. SMEs also complain about () the extent of application documentation required, where problems are also linked to the land-registry, lack of advisory support on business plan preparation and planning practices of SMEs. Owner-managers expect loan of cers to act more on their own evaluation and trust in entrepreneurs. SMEs point to short repayment periods for loans that banks allow due to their uncertainty in risk assessment; this problem is further related to the dif culties in nancing investment in equipment or new premises that need long-term sources, but also in R&D where outcomes are most uncertain. Banks demand loan collateral but some solutions already exist for this problem, either through SMEs own capacity to provide the collateral or the guarantee schemes available. Banks have extensive disbursement procedure and their approval procedures are far too long for the needs of SMEs. Some SMEs have the experience with foreign banks that differ substantially in this respect. SMEs are convinced that Slovenian banks would still prefer larger loan deals with less effort needed per podkapitalizirana. Tradicionalni problemi s nanciranjem (OECD,, str. ) so prisotni v slovenskih MSP, vendar se je v zadnjem asu njihov vrstni red spremenil. V slovenski raziskavi smo prosili MSP, da ocenijo teave, s katerimi se soo ajo pri dostopu do kapitala in da dolo ijo poslovna podro ja, kjer nanciranje preu uje znesek potrebnega kapitala in dolo a strukturo virov. MSP so identi cirala omejeni dostop do javnih sredstev (rang ), ki ponuja ugodne pogoje za kapital, kot edini najpomembneji problem. Slovenska MSP so e navajena, da ima vlada pri dostopu do kapitala pomembno vlogo. Pritoujejo se tudi nad pomanjkanjem dobrih nan nih svetovalcev (), ker obi ajno podjetniki nimajo nan nih znanj (ob upotevanju njihove izobrazbe, Tabela ). Problemi pri vnov evanju terjatev () so resni, a manj izraeni kot v preteklih raziskavah, ko so bili rangirani na prvem mestu. Opaziti je odsotnost zasebnih investitorjev (), kar pa ni ume eno visoko na seznamu prioritet. Vsi ostali problemi se nanaajo na dostop do ban nih posojil, eprav nekateri omenjajo enak problem pri dostopu do javnih sredstev. Najpomembneji problemi se nanaajo na stroek kapitala. To se nanaa na oboje: stroke zavarovanja in druge povezane stroke ter obrestno mero. MSP se pritoujejo nad () obsegom zahtevane prijavne dokumentacije. Problemi se pojavljajo v zvezi z zemljiko knjigo, pomanjkanjem svetovalne podpore pri pripravi poslovnih na rtov in da MSP nimajo prakse pri na rtovanju. Lastnikimenederji pri akujejo od referentov v bankah, da bodo odlo ali bolj na podlagi lastne ocene in zaupanja v podjetnike. MSP izpostavljajo kratka obdobja odpla il posojil, ki jih odobravajo banke zaradi negotovosti pri oceni tveganja; ta problem se nadalje vee na nanciranje investicij v opremo ali nove prostore, kar zahteva dolgoro ne vire, pa tudi na R&R, kjer so rezultati najbolj negotovi. Banke zahtevajo porotva za posojila in nekaj reitev za ta problem e obstaja, bodisi jih zagotavljajo MSP sama, ali pa so dosegljiva preko garancijskih shem. Banke imajo obsene postopke izpla il in njihovi postopki odobritve so predolgi glede na potrebe MSP. Nekatera MSP imajo izkunje s tujimi bankami in opazne so ob utne razlike s tega vidika poslovanja. MSP so prepri ana, da 00

7 Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia money unit of the loan. SMEs also usually do not succeed in getting the amount of loan they applied for, which later extends to some nancial shortages. Banks in Slovenia differ in the degree they have adjusted to deal with SMEs and it is interesting that new private banks are not really champions in this area of nancing. VI. Proposals for banks to improve Banks, as the supply side of SME nancing have partly failed to offer appropriate sources of nance to SMEs, although SMEs also have to adapt better to the conditions on nancial markets (improving nancial planning, using nancial advisory to their bene ts), and government has to support SME nancing. Banks have to improve most in providing start-up nancing and extending long-term loans to growing SMEs. Within the survey, SMEs expressed their views on improvements expected from banks. Entrepreneurs recommend some straightforward measures as related to their ranking of problems with nancing (Table ). True enough, the answers to these problems are not only within the reach of banks, they are sometimes related to the tasks of government institutions and also entrepreneurs have to adjust their attitudes and expectations. According to SMEs, banks should: - lower interest rates () and other costs of loans (), as well as demand for collateral (); it is a sensible demand for SMEs, however, it is not the free will of banks to respond in the articulated way this could only be a combined result of lower in ation rate, increased competition in the banking sector and the rise in savings as well as some support measures of the government; - provide more long-term investment loans (), but allow for extended grace period (): it demands a stable business environment with more transparency in SME operations, as well as improved capability of banks in monitoring the debtors performance and act accordingly; - improve procedures through lessening demands for (formal) documentation (), provide better information on loans and other services (), and shorten the loan approval process (), which could imajo slovenske banke raje velika posojila, ki zahtevajo manj napora/strokov na denarno enoto posojila. MSP obi ajno ne uspejo dobiti viine sredstev, za katera so prosila, kar kasneje posledi no vodi v nan ne manjke. Banke v Sloveniji se razlikujejo v stopnji prilagoditve poslovanja MSP in zanimivo je, da tudi nove zasebne banke niso ravno "prvaki" na tem podro ju nanciranja. VI. Predlogi izboljav bankam Banke kot ponudbena stran nanciranja MSP so delno zatajile v ponudbi ustreznih nan nih virov MSP, eprav velja, da se morajo tudi MSP bolje prilagoditi pogojem na nan nih trgih (izboljanje nan nega na rtovanja, kori enje nan nih nasvetov v svoje dobro) in vlada mora podpirati nanciranje MSP. Banke se morajo najbolj izboljati pri zagotavljanju zagonskega nanciranja in pove evanju dolgoro nih posojil MSP v rasti. V raziskavi so MSP izrazila svoje poglede na izboljave, ki jih pri akujejo od bank. Podjetniki predlagajo nekaj direktnih ukrepov, ki izhajajo iz rangiranih problemov s nanciranjem (Tabela ). Res je, da odgovori na probleme niso le v mo i bank, v asih se nanaajo na naloge vladnih institucij, pa tudi podjetniki morajo prilagoditi svoje vedenje in pri akovanja. Po mnenju MSP, bi banke morale: - Zniati obrestne mere () in druge stroke posojil () kot tudi zahteve po porotvih (); gre za ob utljive zahteve MSP, vendar ne gre za "svobodno voljo" bank, da odgovorijo na izraeni na in to je lahko le kombinirani rezultat nije obrestne mere, pove ane konkuren nosti v ban nem sektorju, pove anja prihrankov in nekaterih podpornih ukrepov vlade; - Zagotoviti ve dolgoro nih investicijskih posojil () ob odobritvi daljega odloga pla il (): to zahteva stabilno poslovno okolje z ve jo transparentnostjo poslovanja MSP, tudi izboljano sposobnost bank za nadziranje poslovanja dolnikov in ustrezno ukrepanje; - Izboljati postopke z zmanjanjem zahtev po (uradni) dokumentaciji (), zagotoviti bolje informacije o posojilih in drugih storitvah () in skrajati postopke odobritve posojil (), kar je lahko skupna aktivnost bank, ki 0

8 Jaka Vadnjal, Marina Letonja be a joint effort of banks investing in their staff know-how and collabo-rating with Local Enterprise Centers (LECs) to provide advisory support to SMEs (), introducing the voucher scheme (Glas et al., 00c); - develop the staff know-how in evaluating SMEs (0), provide advice to applicants () and becoming more customer-friendly (). Problems with banks as the heritage of the transition period are still limiting their capacity to answer to the SME nancing problems. Banks are mostly small, having a dense branch network with high costs and their staff lacks direct enterprise experience and expertise in dealing with SMEs. VII. Government support to SME - nancing Early in the 0s the government started to experiment with several instruments to support SMEs on the national and local (municipal) level: - direct loans to SMEs through the Public Fund for SME Development (PFD) and some local funds (mostly of microcredit level); - subsidies of interest rates; - regional guarantee schemes and guarantees provide through PFD; - deposits to banks with the latter offering multiple amounts of SME loans under bene cial conditions etc. However, these instruments displayed several weaknesses (Glas, 00) and the expected services to SMEs have yet to be developed. SMEs have not expressed full recognition of different forms of nancial assistance. Table exhibits major forms of nancial assistance. Government support to SME nancing is weak in promoting this support among SMEs as well as in attracting the interest of SMEs. Although some element of a selective approach is right with this support, the level of awareness about the support and, in particular, the share of SMEs covered by any of the support measures is rather low and it did not provide a substantial support to SME development. It has not supported the banks in their loan policy substantially, either. However, although the majority of SMEs in the survey have raised serious doubts about investirajo v znanje zaposlenih v sodelovanju z lokalnimi podjetnikimi centri (LPC), ki zagotavljajo svetovalno podporo MSP (), ob uvajanju "vou erske sheme" (Glas et al., 00c); - Razviti znanje zaposlenih za vrednotenje MSP (0), zagotoviti nasvete prosilcem () in postati bolj prijazni do strank (). Problemi z bankami kot dedi ina tranzicijskega obdobja e vedno omejujejo njihovo sposobnost, da bi odgovorile na probleme nanciranja MSP. Banke so v glavnem male, z gosto mreo podrunic z visokimi stroki, in njihovi zaposleni nimajo neposrednih podjetnikih izkuenj in znanja o poslovanju z MSP. VII. Vladna podpora nanciranju MSP V zgodnjih devetdesetih letih je za ela vlada eksperimentirati s tevilnimi instrumenti, da bi podprla MSP na nacionalni in lokalni (ob inski) ravni: - Direktna posojila MSP skozi javni sklad za razvoj MSP (PFD) in nekateri lokalni viri (ve inoma na ravni mikrokreditov); - Subvencije obrestnih mer; - Regionalne garancijske sheme in garancije skozi PFD; - Depoziti bankam, ki kasneje ponudijo ve kratnik posojil MSP pod ugodnejimi pogoji itd. Kakorkoli, ti instrumenti so izkazali tevilne slabosti (Glas, 00) in pri akovane storitve za MSP je e treba razviti. MSP niso popolnoma prepoznala razli nih oblik nan ne pomo i. Tabela predstavlja glavne oblike nan ne pomo i. Vladna podpora nanciranju MSP je ibka - tako v promociji vrst podpore med MSP kot v pritegnitvi interesa MSP. eprav je dolo ena selektivnost pri podpornih ukrepih primerna, pa je raven zavesti o podpornih ukrepih in e posebej dele MSP, ki so bila delena kakrnekoli oblike podpornih ukrepov, zelo nizka in ni zagotovila bistvene podpore za razvoj MSP. Pa tudi banke niso bile bistveno podpirte pri njihovi posojilni politiki. eprav je ve ina MSP v raziskavi izrazila resen dvom o u inkovitosti podpornih ukrepov, pa je dolo ena skupina potrdila pozitivni vpliv garancijskih shem. V nekaterih regijah so imele garancijske 0

9 Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia the ef ciency of these measures, a certain group acknowledged the positive impact of guarantee schemes. In some regions these schemes have worked reasonably well and there is a general af rmative experience with them in Europe. Instead of denying the schemes due to some doubts we really need to study carefully the provision of guarantees that seems not to answer well the needs of SMEs. VIII. Conclusions and recommendations Generally, considering either dynamic enterprises or our survey, Slovenian startups are mainly nanced through own resources of founders and other emotionrelated sources and banks do have only a minor role at this stage of SME development. This supports the Proposition that at the start-up stage banks are not eager to enter the SME nancing due to high risks and where engaged, they prefer shortterm loans. Suppliers credit also does not rank high, either at the start or later, while some other research e.g. Pranikar et al. (00) has found a much higher share of this source in the structure of SME nance. Proposition is reasonable, it is even more signi cant for dynamic businesses that need more resources and the risk for banks increases consistently. The evidence further supports Proposition that banks would become the main source of current and investment capital for SMEs in Slovenia. This proposition implies the strong correlation between SMEs access to capital and banks capacity to deal with SMEs. The needs of SMEs later in the life-cycle grow beyond the retained pro ts and own savings of entrepreneurs. Again, this is more important for fast growing rms. However, banks are not exactly capable of supporting SMEs with appropriate supply of capital and in the absence of stronger equity nancing SMEs mostly complain about different aspects of bank credits: there is the high price for bank loans, dif culties with guarantees and cumbersome procedures not really adapted to the SMEs. At this point, SMEs would prefer to get support from public funds having two functions: () to lower SMEs costs of capital (as soft loans) and () to act as a factor of attraction for other sources (banks) as they only share part of the risk. These complaints of SMEs support the Proposition, since they prove the sheme kar dobre u inke in tudi v Evropi so izkunje z garancijskimi shemami na splono pozitivne. Namesto, da sheme negiramo zaradi nekaterih dvomov, je bolje skrbno preu iti koristi garancij, ki zgleda ne odgovarjajo najbolje potrebam MSP. VIII. Zaklju ki in priporo ila Na splono, e pogledamo dinami na podjetja ali nao raziskavo, se nova slovenska podjetja v glavnem nancirajo z lastnimi sredstvi lastnikov in njihovih ustveno povezanih virov, banke pa igrajo v tej fazi razvoja le manjo vlogo. To potrjuje nao Predpostavko, da v zagonski fazi podjetja banke nerade vstopajo v nanciranje MSP zaradi visokega tveganja, kjer pa se angairajo, imajo raje kratkoro na posojila. Tudi krediti dobaviteljev niso razvr eni visoko, niti ob zagonu niti kasneje, medtem ko je v drugih raziskavah npr. Pranikar et al. (00) nael mnogo viji dele tega vira v strukturi nanc MSP. Hipoteza je smiselna, celo e bolj za dinami na podjetja, ki potrebujejo ve sredstev in tveganje za banke konstantno raste. Navedbe v nadaljevanju potrjujejo Predpostavko, da bodo banke postale glavni vir ovratnega in investicijskega kapitala v MSP v Sloveniji. Ta hipoteza izraa mo no povezavo med dostopom MSP do kapitala in zmogljivostjo bank za poslovanje z MSP. Potrebe MSP v kasnjeem ivljenjskem ciklu presegajo zadrane dobi ke in lastne prihranke podjetnikov. Poudarjamo, da je to bolj pomembno za hitro rasto a podjetja. Vendar, banke niso sposobne podpreti MSP z ustrezno ponudbo kapitala in ob odsotnosti mo nejega lastnikega nanciranja se MSP v glavnem pritoujejo o razli nih vidikih ban nih kreditov: cena za ban na posojila je zelo visoka, teave so z garancijami in nadlenimi postopki, ki niso prilagojeni MSP. V tem trenutku bi MSP raje dobila podporo iz javnih sredstev, kar bi imelo dvojni namen: () zmanjati stroke kapitala MSP (kot mehka posojila) in () delovati kot dejavnik privla nosti za druge vire (banke), ker le delijo tveganje. Te pritobe MSP potrjujejo Predpostavko, saj dokazujejo pomanjkanje dolgoro nih sredstev in tevilne slabosti v postopkih prijave, odobritve in izpla il. Slovenske banke imajo raje formalne postopke namesto osebne ocene podjetnikovih sposobnosti in projektov MSP. Enake 0

10 Jaka Vadnjal, Marina Letonja lack of long-term nance and a number of weaknesses in application, approval and disbursement procedures. Slovenian banks prefer formal procedures instead of personal assessments of entrepreneurs capabilities and SME projects. These same complaints were also con rmed in a second national survey of SMEs in May 00 (Glas et al., 00a). The government has acknowledged the problems of SME nancing early in 0s and several instruments have been used to ease the relationship between banks and SMEs, from interest rate subsidies, guarantees, bank deposits to soft loans. However, so far the experiences have been, mildly speaking, mixed and generally not very convincing: local and national funds lacked appropriate resources and guarantee schemes have not reached critical mass of resources and applications and their provisions have been attractive for SMEs. All these instruments need further re nement in conception and implementation, some organisational changes and improved support through information and advisory assistance to SMEs. Thus, the Proposition is supported by the evidence, but instruments have to be revised. The recommendations in order to improve bank SME relationship could be stated as: () banks should signi cantly improve their internal procedures when dealing with SMEs and their staff need appropriate training; () SMEs have to be assisted by Local Enterprise Centres through the voucher system to be better prepared for negotiations and deliver well-designed applications; () government has to re ne existing risk-sharing instruments in order to attract more long-term commitment of banks to SME nancing. pripombe je potrdila tudi druga raziskava na nacionalni ravni v MSP maja 00 (Glas et al., 00b) uporabljenih je bilo ve instrumentov, da bi omilili odnose med bankami in MSP, od subvencij obrestnih mer, garancij, ban nih depozitov in mehkih posojil. Kakorkoli, izkunje so bile, milo re eno, meane in na splono niso bile prepri ljive: lokalnim in nacionalnim skladom so manjkala ustrezna sredstva, garancijske sheme niso dosegale kriti ne mase sredstev in prijave in pridobitev sredstev niso bile privla ne za MSP. Vsi navedeni instrumenti potrebujejo nadaljnje izboljave v konceptih in izvedbi, nekatere organizacijske spremembe in izboljano podporo ob informacijski in svetovalni podpori MSP. Tako lahko potrdimo na podlagi dokazov Predpostavko, vendar je treba revidirati instrumente. Priporo ila za izboljavo odnosov med bankami in MSP lahko oblikujemo kot sledi: () banke morajo ob utno izboljati svoje notranje postopke poslovanja z MSP in usposabljati svoje osebje; () MSP potrebujejo podporo Lokalnih podjetnikih centrov z vou erskim sistemom, da bi bila bolje pripravljena na pogajanja in da bi pripravila dobre prijave; () vlada mora izboljati obstoje e instrumente porazdeljenega tveganja, da bi pritegnila banke k dolgoro nejemu nanciranju MSP. 0

11 Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia References / Reference [] Ang, J. S., James, W. L., in Floyd, T.. Evidence of the Lack of Separation Between Business and Personal Risks among Small Businesses, Journal of Small Business Finance, Vol., No. /, pp. 0. [] Caselli, S.. Family Small and Medium Sized FirmsFinance in the Italian Banking System., IN nd World Conference International Council for Small Business, ICSB. [] Coleman, S. in Carsky, M.. Sources of Capital for Small Family-Owned Busi-nesses: Evidence from the National Survey of Small Business Finances. Family Business Review, Vol., No., pp. -. [] EC (European Commission)(00a): State Aid and Risk Capital. Of cial Journal of the European Communities,..00 (00/C /0). [] EC (00b): Enterprises Access to Finance. Commission Staff Working Paper, Bruxelles, [] Glas, M. (00): Finan na podpora malim in srednjim podjetjem v Sloveniji: Predlog. Ljubljana: Ekonomska fakulteta Center za razvoj podjetnitva. [] Glas, M., J. Vadnjal, D. Mirti (00a): Slovenski podjetniki o nanciranju malih in srednjih podjetij. Ekonomska fakulteta, Center za razvoj podjetnitva, Ljubljana. [] Glas, M., M. Drnovek, V. Peni ny, D. Mirti (00b): Slovenian Experiences with the SME Financing. Paper presented at the Intl Conference, University of Mostar, Mostar, April -. [] Glas, M., M. Drnovek, V. Peni ny, D. Mirti (00c): Development of the SME Support System with the Special Reference to the Voucher System for Counseling: The Case of Slovenia. Paper presented at the Intl Conference, University of Mostar, Mostar, April -. [0] Glas, M., D. Mirti, V. Peni ny, J. Vadnjal (00): Slovenski podjetniki o podpori malim in srednjim podjetjem. To be published. Centre for Entrepreneurship Development, Ljubljana 00. [] Haynes, G.W. in Avery, R. J.. Family businesses: Can the family and business nances be separated. Journal of Entrepreneurial and Small Business Finance, Vol., No., pp. -. [] Haynes, G. W., Walker, R., Rowe, B. R., in Gong-Soog, H.. The Intermingling of Business and Family Finances in Family-Owned Businesses. Family Business Review Vol., No., pp. -0. [] Hufft, E. M.. Comparison of The Ownership and Growth of Family Businesses and Small Firms. nd World Conference International Council for Small Business, San Francisco, ICSB. [] OECD (): Small Business in Transition Economies. LEED, Paris Myers, S. C.. The Capital Structure Puzzle. Journal of Finance, Vol., pp. -. [] Olson, P. D., Zuiker, V. S., Danes, S. M., Stafford, K., Heck, R. K. Z., and Duncan, A. 00. The impact of the family and the business on the family business sustainability. [] Journal of Business Venturing, Vol., No., pp. -. [] Pranikar, J., Pahor, M., Cirman, A. (00): Late payments in accession countries : causes and international comparison. The journal of entrepreneurial nance & business ventures, Apr. 00, vol., no., str. - [] Peni ny, V. (): Zna ilnosti hitro rasto ih malih podjetij v Sloveniji in pogoji za njihovo e hitrejo rast. Portoro: Visoka strokovna ola za podjetnitvo. [] Peni ny, V. (000): Primerjava razvoja dinami nih podjetij med Slovenijo in dravami EU. Portoro: Visoka strokovna ola za podjetnitvo. [0] Peni ny, V. (00): Financiranje dinami nih podjetij v Sloveniji in dravah EU. Portoro: Visoka strokovna ola za podjetnitvo. [] Schulwolf, J. C. 00. Financing the Family-owned Business: If You Dont Know the Family You Dont Know the Business. The Secured Lender, Vol., No., pp. -0. [] iek, J., H. von Liechtenstein (): Venture Capital & Entrepreneurship in Central & East Europe, Final report. Database Survey on 0 Central and East European Dynamic Entrepreneurs. Schiphol: EFER. [] Upton, N. and Petty, W.. Venture Capital Funding of Transition in Family-Owned Business: An Exploratory Analysis. th Annual National Conference United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship: Conference Proceedings, Clearwater, Florida, USASBE. [] Wilson, R. (00). Business Finance 00. Institute of Directors, London. 0

12 Jaka Vadnjal, Marina Letonja Table. Characteristics of Slovenian SMEs responding to the mailed questionnaire, 00 Business features Structure of respondents In % Legal status Limited liability company Sole proprietorship Combined limited liability company and sole proprietorship Other forms No answer,,,0,, Family business Yes, considered a family business, Gender of owner-manager Male founder Female founder No answer,,, Education of the owner-manager Vocational school Secondary school College University Graduate studies Other, No answer 0,,, 0,,0, Professional background Technical / natural sciences Economics / business Other No answer,,,,0 Source: Glas et al. (00a) Tabela. Zna ilnosti slovenskih MSP, ki so odgovorila na vpraalnik, 00 Zna ilnosti podjetja Struktura anketiranih In % Pravni status Druba z omejeno odgovornostjo Samostojni podjetnik Kombinacija d.o.o.in samostojni podjetnik Druge oblike Ni odgovora,,,0,, Druinsko podjetje Ja, opredeljeno kot druinsko podjetje, Spol lastnika-menederja moki enska ni odgovora,,, Izobrazba lastnika menederja Poklicna ola Srednja ola Visoka ola Univerza Podiplomski tudij drugo, ni odgovora 0,,, 0,,0, Strokovne izkunje tehni ne / naravoslovje Ekonomija / podjetnitvo Drugo Ni odgovora,,,,0 Vir: Glas et al. (00a) 0

13 Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia Table. Share of Slovenian SMEs using speci c source of nance, 000 and 00 (in %) Source of nance Founders savings Loans of family and friends Savings of the management team Other private investors Investment societies, mutual funds Suppliers credit Customers credit SMEs (00) Dynamic SMEs (000) Start-up phase Current operations 0 Start-up phase Current operations 0 Investments planned 0 0 Banks: commercial 00 Banks: investment loans 0 Government support assistance Retained pro ts Other sources 0 Last two years of SMEs operations; % of respondents did not plan any investment Source: Peni ny (00), Glas et al. (00a) Tabela. Dele slovenskih MSP, ki koristijo speci ne vire nanciranja, 000 in 00 (v %) Vir nanciranja Lastnikovi prihranki Posojila druine in prijateljev Prihranki menederskega tima Drugi zasebni investitorji Investicijske drube, vzajemni skladi Posojila dobaviteljev Posojila kupcev MSP (00) Dinami na MSP (000) Zagon Teko e poslovanje 0 Zagon Teko e poslovanje 0 Na rtovane investicije 0 0 Banke: poslovne 00 Banke: investicijska posojila 0 Vladna podporna pomo Zadrani dobi ki Drugi viri 0 zadnji dve leti poslovanja MSP; % anketiranih ni na rtovalo investicij Vir: Peni ny (00), Glas et al. (00a) 0

14 Jaka Vadnjal, Marina Letonja Table. Ranking of problems with nancing in Slovenian SMEs (survey 00) Rank Financial problem Level of importance (in %) Grade less it is a more important problem important A. Problems with nancial aspects of access to sources Access to (public) funds 0,0 High costs of insurance and other related costs Lack of good nancial advisors High interest rates (bank loans),,, Demand for extensive documentation, Dif culties to collect receivables, Short period for loan repayment Providing loan collateral,, Absence of private (equity) investors 0,0 Access to credit resources in general,0 Time consuming, complicated loan disbursement Insuf cient amounts of loans Banks prefer larger loans,0,00, Possibility to get/extend the grace period for loans 0, Long banking procedures to loan approval, B. Dif culties with nancing different types of expenses To invest in equipment, To nance R&D for new products/services, 0 To nance new premises, To nance marketing activities, To nance (credit) customers,0 0 To nance labor costs 0, To nance stocks,0 SMEs used -points Likert scale, but here we grouped Not a problem and Small problem into "Less important" and Important problem and Huge problem into "More important" This grade is calculated by putting the values - to above -points Likert scale, with Not a problem and Huge problem Source: Glas et al. (00a) 0

15 Commercial Banks and SMEs: Case of Slovenia Tabela. Razvr anje problemov nanciranja slovenskih MSP (raziskava 00) Rang Finan ni problem Raven pomembnosti (v %) stopnja Manj pomembno Predstavlja problem Bolj pomembno A. Problemi s nan nimi vidiki dostopa do virov Dostop do (javnih) sredstev Visoki stroki zavarovanja in drugi povezani stroki 0,0, Pomanjkanje dobrih nan nih svetovalcev, Visoke obrestne mere (ban na posojila) Zahteva po obseni dokumentaciji Teave pri izterjavi terjatev Kratko obdobje za pla ilo dolga Zagotavljanje zavarovanja za posojilo Odsotnost zasebnih (lastniki kapital) investitorjev Dostop do posojilnih virov na splono Dolgotrajno, komplicirano izpla ilo posojil Nezadostni zneski posojil Banke preferirajo ve ja posojila Monost dobiti / podaljati odlog pla ila posojila Dolgi ban ni postopki odobritve posojil 0 0,,,,,,0,0,0,00,,, B. Teave s nanciranjem razli nih vrst strokov Investiranje v opremo, 0 Financiranje R & R novih proizvodov / storitev Financiranje novih poslovnih prostorov,, Financiranje marketinkih aktivnosti, Financiranje (kreditiranje) kupcev,0 0 Financiranje strokov dela Financiranje zalog 0,,0 MSP so uporabila stopenjsko Likertovo lestvico, tu uporabljamo ni problem in majhen problem v "manj pomemben" in pomemben problem in velik problem v "bolj pomemben" Stopnja je izra unana z dodajanjem vrednosti - na -stopenjsko Likertovo lestvico, ob tem je ni problem in velik problem Vir: Glas et al. (00a) 0

16 Jaka Vadnjal, Marina Letonja Table. Best experience with banks on SME nancing (in %) What kind of banks do SMEs have best experience in working with? We generally do not have good experience with banks With former socially-owned banks (from before 0) With new private local banks With foreign banks (with subsidiaries in Slovenia) With foreign banks (loans granted abroad) SME survey (00) Dynamic SMEs 00 Source: Glas et al. (00), Peni ny (00) Tabela. Najbolje izkunje z bankami pri nanciranju MSP (v %) S kakno vrsto bank imajo MSP najbolje izkunje pri poslovanju z njimi? We generally do not have good experience with banks With former socially-owned banks (from before 0) With new private local banks With foreign banks (with subsidiaries in Slovenia) With foreign banks (loans granted abroad) Raziskava MSP (00) Dinami na MSP 00 Source: Glas et al. (00), Peni ny (00) 0