Medium-sized Enterprises (MEs) are a limited number of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in EU-28 countries, but they contribute greatly to value added and employment. They are also key to pursuing sustainable local development in terms of green economic growth. Because trade credit is a crucial financial source for SMEs, this article investigates the importance of trade credit for Italian MEs, and particularly for ‘green’ MEs, rather than ‘non-green’ MEs. A panel analysis is applied to 101,250 observations over the period 2010–2019. We find that green MEs rely more on trade credit than non-green MEs. Moreover, trade credit is more important for younger, smaller, less profitable, and less liquid MEs. We further show that a substitution effect between trade and banking credit exists, and that the local development level affects the demand for trade credit. Our results demonstrate that trade credit supports sustainable development more than banking credit. Financial intermediaries should therefore include green parameters in the assessment of the creditworthiness of MEs, and policymakers should consider that trade credit and financial inclusion may be important in pursuing sustainable local development and economic growth.

Purpose The paper aims to analyze the impact of cyber attacks on stock returns of companies operating in the hospitality sector. The fast development of information and communication technologies has been posited as both an opportunity and a challenge to the United Nations Global Sustainable Development Goals. Digital technologies are significant tools for sustainable development, but if they are not addressed appropriately, they can potentially hinder the progress toward sustainability. Among negative impacts, it is necessary to consider cyber risk, a major concern today, in particular for industries which work with sensitive data, such as tourism businesses. Hospitality businesses have to adequately manage cyber insecurity and digital privacy issues, to prevent losses and contribute to socioeconomic sustainable growth. Design/methodology/approach Using event-study methodology, the paper provides empirical evidence on the effect of announcements of 170 information security breaches on the market value of firms operating in the hospitality sector in the past five years. Findings The study focuses on identifying potential threats of cyber attacks for the economic value of listed companies. The authors find that negative market returns occur following announcements of cyber attacks suffered by hospitality companies. Adequate investments in technology for cyber security and staff training are relevant in the hospitality sector to reduce cyber risk. Originality/value The paper contributes to identifying potential threats of cyber attacks for the economic value of listed companies operating in the hospitality sector. The analysis is carried out by collecting an original sample of global cyber attacks from newspaper announcements sourced from the LexisNexis database.

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A widely debated issue in recent years is cybercrime. Breaches in the security of accessibility, integrity and confidentiality of information involve potentially high explicit and implicit costs for firms. This paper investigates the impact of information security breaches on stock returns. Using event-study methodology, the study provides empirical evidence on the effect of announcements of cyber-attacks on the market value of firms from 1995 to 2015. Results show that substantial negative market returns occur following announcements of cyber-attacks. Financial entities often suffer greater negative effects than other companies and non-confidential cyber-attacks are the most dangerous, especially for the financial sector. Overall findings seem to show a link between cybercrime and insider trading

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This paper estimates the impact of public guarantees on crisis predictive indicators among small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs). We use a confidential database provided by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development on the universe of guarantees granted by the Central Guarantee Fund. We apply difference-in-difference regressions and propensity-score matching estimators to a sample of approximately 40,000 SMEs over the 2010–2018 period. We find that obtaining a public guarantee improves profitability both in the short- and medium-term. On the other hand, SMEs’ financial health worsens in the short run, but financial burdens are alleviated 2 years after the issuance of a guarantee. The economic and financial effects of government-backed loans are amplified for micro-sized firms, companies operating in the service sector and direct guarantees. Our results can thus support public authorities in designing credit guarantee schemes capable of preventing SMEs’ zombification and protecting them from the risk of debt overhang.

The dependence on cyberspace has considerably increased over time, as such, people look at risk associated with cyber technology. This chapter focuses on the cyber risk issue. The authors aim to describe the global state of the art and point out the potential negative consequences of this type of systemic risk. Cyber risk increasingly affects both public and private institutions. Some of the risks that entities face are the following: computer security breaches, cyber theft, cyber terrorism, cyber espionage. Developed nations but also emerging markets suffer from cyber risk. It is therefore important to examine the different security regulation implemented across different markets. Moreover, cyber risk is a concern for all economic sectors. In particular, it is a crucial issue in banking sector because of the negative effects of cyber attacks, among others, the financial losses and the reputational risk. However, the awareness is increasing and cyber insurance is growing.

This paper examines the main determinants of corporate euro-bond spread. We analyse a large sample of corporate euro-country bonds over the period May 2005 -January 2012, considering three sub-periods: May 2005- July 2007 (pre-crisis period), August 2007-April 2010 (worldwide financial crisis) and May 2010-January 2012 (European sovereign debt crisis). We show that both liquidity risk and risk related to the country of the issuing firms affect corporate bond spread. We also find that the market yield of corporate bonds issued in the main European countries is, other things being equal, strongly influenced by the risk of the corresponding sovereign bonds and Credit Default Swap (CDS). Finally, we compare the yields of bonds issued by banks with those of bonds issued by firms from other sectors and find that the spread, other things being equal, is significantly higher for banks. These findings may have operating implications for market activity, regulators and policy makers.