Firm performance, guarantees and SMEs credit access

The first purpose of this paper is to highlight how subjective firm performance and guarantees mitigate the credit access difficulty in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Secondly, in the light of the previous studies, we check the effect of Entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on credit access difficulty. The data is collected through a survey in Italy and Austria, directed to 328 SMEs. The findings show that higher levels of performance are associated to less difficulty in accessing credit, particularly when the banks financing the firm are relationship lending oriented. While collateral, bank guarantees and public guarantees seem to have no effect on difficulties in accessing credit, mutual guarantees have a clear risk-sharing effect, particularly in relationships where banks implement transaction lending technologies. No EO dimension impacts on difficulties in accessing credit. Unlike larger companies, SMEs soft information such as EO do not seem to directly influence the loan policies of financial intermediaries, thus leaving an indirect effect through guarantees.