No abstract

No abstract

This paper investigates the effects of family ownership on export using rich data on Italian firms. We find that family ownership increases the probability that firms export. This benefit is especially pronounced when family owners retain control rights and seek the support of external managers. The results suggest that families better internalize the long-run benefits of internationalization, but that their limited competencies attenuate this benefit in high-tech industries and in remote and unfamiliar export markets. Family firms also exhibit some tendency to enter foreign markets in a progressive way (sequential exporting) and through limited collaborations with foreign firms and intermediaries.

Using a unique sample of European manufacturing firms, we empirically investigate how differences in main banks' lending technology and use of soft information affected firms' credit availability during the 2007-2009 crisis. We find that the probability of credit rationing was higher for firms matching with transactionali.e., using transactional lending technologiesbanks. However, we show that soft information marginally reduced that probability in those firm-bank matches. Soft information would benefit most the small and medium enterprises and firms relating with large banks. Thus, reducing credit exclusion during crises requires either relationship lending or enticing transactional banks to use soft information.

No abstract