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Firm growth and liquidity constraints: evidence from the manufacturing and service sectors in Italy

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  • Cristiana Donati

Abstract

We use a large firm-level panel data set to analyse the relevance of liquidity constraints on firm growth in Italy. In most European countries, mainstream financial institutions are scantly able to provide affordable credit facilities to small firms. Thus, these firms are forced to finance their growth almost exclusively through retained earnings. We estimate a dynamic version of Gibrat-law, incorporating cash flow as a measure of financial constraints, for two different size classes within small and medium size enterprises and for several industries in manufacturing and service sectors. The findings show that, in general, small manufacturing firms have higher growth-cash flow sensitivities with respect to medium firms. Conversely, our results highlight, for the services, a significant heterogeneity in the impact of liquidity constraints on firm growth. In particular, the sensitivity of growth rates to the cash flow appears relatively high for small firms belonging to Knowledge Intensive Business Services. Validation of Gibrat-law in the services suggests that an important group of industries, with a superior capacity of encouraging firm’s competitiveness, need more financial resources to promote their growth and that of the manufacturing sectors with whom they are connected.

Suggested Citation

  • Cristiana Donati, 2016. "Firm growth and liquidity constraints: evidence from the manufacturing and service sectors in Italy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 48(20), pages 1881-1892, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:48:y:2016:i:20:p:1881-1892
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2015.1109044
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    Cited by:

    1. Robin Valenta & Johannes Idsø & Leiv Opstad, 2021. "Evidence of a Threshold Size for Norwegian Campsites and Its Dynamic Growth Process Implications—Does Gibrat’s Law Hold?," Economies, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-14, November.
    2. Andrew T. Balthrop, 2021. "Gibrat’s law in the trucking industry," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 61(1), pages 339-354, July.
    3. Swati Agrawal & Poonam Singh & Mainak Mazumdar, 2021. "Innovation, Firm Size and Ownership: A Study of Firm Transition in India," International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 15-27, June.
    4. Bergner, Sören Martin & Bräutigam, Rainer & Evers, Maria Theresia & Spengel, Christoph, 2017. "The use of SME tax incentives in the European Union," ZEW Discussion Papers 17-006, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Sorin Gabriel ANTON, 2016. "The Impact Of Leverage On Firm Growth. Empirical Evidence From Romanian Listed Firms," Review of Economic and Business Studies, Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 18, pages 147-158, December.
    6. Johan Karlsson, 2021. "Firm size and growth barriers: a data-driven approach," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 1319-1338, October.
    7. Lee, Chien-Chiang & Wang, Chih-Wei & Ho, Shan-Ju, 2020. "Financial inclusion, financial innovation, and firms’ sales growth," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 189-205.
    8. Bahadır Ergün & Ömer Tuğsal Doruk, 2020. "Effect of financial constraints on the growth of family and nonfamily firms in Turkey," Financial Innovation, Springer;Southwestern University of Finance and Economics, vol. 6(1), pages 1-24, December.
    9. Olivier Butzbach & Domenico Sarno, 2019. "To What Extent Do Regional Effects Influence Firms’ Capital Structure? The Case of Southern Italian SMEs’," IJFS, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-20, January.

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