Sectoral differences in the credit access impediments of Turkish SMEs

Abstract

Contributions of Small and Medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that have been operating in various sectors to economies have increased over the years especially in job creation and growth. In an attempt to continue their activities in different conditions, SMEs need financing although they encounter some impediments. When it comes to the problems that firms perceive during their credit access, their feelings may differ because of being in different industries. In this context, the purpose of this research is to reveal if sectoral differences exist in perceptions of bank loan constraints for SMEs in manufacturing and service industries. Higher collateral requirements of banks, high expenses of loans and high number of procedures in credit application are the impediments that the research investigates. The sample of the study consists of 424 Turkish SMEs that are affiliated in Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO). Moreover, face to face surveys were performed to gain the responses from these businesses. By using Chi-Square and Z score statistics, and analyzing p values from these statistics, the study confirms that perceptions of SMEs that are in manufacturing and service sectors differ regarding to the selected credit access impediments. But contrary to the assumptions in the hypotheses that presume service firms are more likely to face with these impediments than manufacturing firms, the research finds that more SMEs in manufacturing sector perceive the chosen statements as obstacles in their credit application process than service firms do. Therefore, the research partially accepts the hypotheses. The study elucidates that manufacturing firms usually have high level of financial needs because of being exposed to higher amount of sunk costs and capital requirements to continue their activities and also make more export. These facts can make manufacturing firms risky from the banks' point of view. As a consequence of that, banks can take actions that cause tough loan conditions for SMEs in manufacturing industry and this can be the reason why more manufacturing firms in this study perceive the selected facts as obstacles than service firms do.