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Supplier relationships and small business use of trade credit

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  • Aaronson, Daniel
  • Bostic, Raphael W.
  • Huck, Paul
  • Townsend, Robert

Abstract

This paper sheds some light on the empirical importance of supplier relationships, including ethnic ties, for the use of trade credit by minority-owned small businesses. Results based on the 1993 National Survey of Small Business Finance (NSSBF) indicate that ethnic differences in the use of trade credit are present after conditioning on an extensive list of control variables. This holds especially for Black-owned businesses, and we find that they use less trade credit, are less likely to take advantage of discounts for early payment, and are more likely to have payments past due. We use neighborhood survey data to explore the importance of supplier relationships for the use of trade credit by Black- and Hispanic-owned businesses. Although Black and Hispanic owners are equally likely to be offered trade credit, the relationship effects vary by ethnicity. Closer relationships with suppliers as measured by ethnic ties and geographical proximity are associated with more trade credit for Hispanic-owned businesses. In contrast, this result does not hold for Black-owned firms. The neighborhood survey results suggest the idea of looking for ethnic differences in the effects of relationships at the national level as well. Although good supplier-level measures of relationships are not available in the NSSBF, we use census data to construct MSA-level measures of the prevalence of minority-owned businesses. We then explore how location in an MSA with a higher proportion of businesses of the same ethnicity is associated with the use of trade credit by minority owners relative to White-owned firms. We find that a higher MSA share for Hispanic-owned businesses is generally associated with a reduction in differences in the use of trade credit by Hispanic owners relative to White owners. No clear association is apparent between the MSA share for Black-owned businesses and their use of trade credit.Thus, the ethnic differences in the effects of relationships evident in the neighborh
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  • Aaronson, Daniel & Bostic, Raphael W. & Huck, Paul & Townsend, Robert, 2004. "Supplier relationships and small business use of trade credit," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 46-67, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:55:y:2004:i:1:p:46-67
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    2. Degryse, Hans & Matthews, Kent & Zhao, Tianshu, 2018. "SMEs and access to bank credit: Evidence on the regional propagation of the financial crisis in the UK," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 53-70.
    3. Eliasson, Tove, 2014. "Immigrant entrepreneurship and the origin of bankers," Working Paper Series 2014:19, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
    4. Ronald Cummings & Paul Ferraro, 2005. "Cultural diversity, discrimination and economic outcomes: An experimental analysis," Artefactual Field Experiments 00045, The Field Experiments Website.
    5. Niels Hermes & Ernest Kihanga & Robert Lensink & Clemens Lutz, 2015. "The determinants of trade credit use: the case of the Tanzanian rice market," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(30), pages 3164-3174, June.
    6. Cynthia Kinnan & Krislert Samphantharak & Robert Townsend & Diego Vera-Cossio, 2019. "Insurance and Propagation in Village Networks," PIER Discussion Papers 115, Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research.
    7. Ebben, Jay & Johnson, Alec, 2006. "Bootstrapping in small firms: An empirical analysis of change over time," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 851-865, November.
    8. Mubashir Qurashi & Muhammad Zahoor, 2017. "Working Capital Determinants for the UK Pharmaceutical Companies Listed on FTSE 350 Index," International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Accounting, Finance and Management Sciences, vol. 7(1), pages 11-17, January.
    9. Anjali Kumar & Manuela Francisco, 2005. "Enterprise Size, Financing Patterns, and Credit Constraints in Brazil : Analysis of Data from the Investment Climate Assessment Survey," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 7330, December.
    10. Zhou, Yong-Wu & Zhong, Yuanguang & Li, Jicai, 2012. "An uncooperative order model for items with trade credit, inventory-dependent demand and limited displayed-shelf space," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(1), pages 76-85.
    11. Zhong, Yuan-Guang & Zhou, Yong-Wu, 2013. "Improving the supply chain's performance through trade credit under inventory-dependent demand and limited storage capacity," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 364-370.
    12. Alexandra Zamfirache & Titus Suciu & Carmen Elena Anton & Ruxandra-Gabriela Albu & Ioana-Simona Ivasciuc, 2023. "The Interest Shown by Potential Young Entrepreneurs in Romania Regarding Feasible Funding Sources, in the Context of a Sustainable Entrepreneurial Education," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-29, March.
    13. Douglas A. Bosse & Tom Arnold, 2009. "Trade credit: a real option for bootstrapping small firms," Venture Capital, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(1), pages 49-63, September.
    14. Paul, Salima & Boden, Rebecca, 2008. "The secret life of UK trade credit supply: Setting a new research agenda," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 272-281.
    15. Slavec, Alenka & Prodan, Igor, 2012. "The influence of entrepreneur’s characteristics on small manufacturing firm debt financing," Journal of East European Management Studies, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 17(1), pages 104-130.
    16. Farah Saerens & Stefanie Ceustermans, 2021. "Abbreviated or Micro-Entity Accounts? Effect of Financial Reporting Format on the Availability of Trade Credit," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-18, July.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G11 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Portfolio Choice; Investment Decisions
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates

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