Flexible Finanzierung in Industriedistrikten Spaniens?: Das Beispiel Alicante

Flexible financing in Spanish industrial districts? The example of Alicante. Flexibility is seen as one of the main characteristics of small and medium sized enterprises (SME). However, concerning financial aspects this characteristic is reversed: compared to larger firms SME are financially inflexible. The paper analyses spatial aspects of financial flexibility under a systemic as well as an organizational perspective. In particular, it focuses on the flexibility in financial relationships between banks and SME in a local production system in Alicante/Spain. Theory suggests that financial relationships which are embedded in a local production system support the financial flexibility of firms. However, empirical evidence of Alicante challenges this view. The Spanish financial system in general is dominated by multiple banking relationships. They depend on transaction-based short-term financial contracts and include collateral securities. These are contracts which seriously narrow the financial flexibility of firms. The case of Alicante shows that the rationality behind this kind of transaction-based relationships is more related to routines in banking organization than to risk perception in a local production system. The paper concludes that spatial concentration does not automatically lead to a local dimension of finance.