Finance and Small Manufacturing Firms: Do Market Listing and Size Entail Behavioural Differences?

Abstract

It is possible to study companies according to their methods of gaining access to finance, and in particular the stock market. Two approaches are possible. The first looks at the organization of such access through the relationships built up by the company with suppliers of capital, enabling the financial territory of the company to be defined. The second approach, which does not exclude the first, is to compare companies according the degree to which they enjoy access to financial markets, which can be defined in terms of whether a company is listed on the stock market or not. Both approaches have been tested using data for recent years. The purpose of this paper is to examine firstly the differences in access to financial markets between large and small companies, and secondly the effects and constraints generated by the fact of being listed (comparison of listed and unlisted companies).

JEL Classification: G3, L2, M2