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We investigate whether the dividend policies of privately held firms follow a predictable pattern that parallels their life cycles. Our analyses are based on a large sample of 113,599 Belgian privately held firms with 666,135 firm-year observations that cover the period from 2005 to 2018. We find that as the retained earnings of privately held firms increase, they are more likely to pay dividends and to pay higher amounts. We find a significant effect of retained earnings on dividend policy in a subsample of established firms, but not in a subsample of young firms. Firms are also more likely to initiate (omit) a dividend as their retained earnings increase (decrease) over time. Overall, our results support the life cycle theory in the context of privately held firms.

A constrained access to external financing has a negative effect on firm growth. This is even more problematic for SMEs, as smaller firms are more prone to having financing constraints. Drawing on the resource dependence theory, we argue that firms with constrained access to external financing seek to become less dependent on their access to external financing. Firms can introduce cost-saving management innovations, which are innovations in the form of new organizational processes, practices and structures with the goal of reducing the firm’s costs and increasing its efficiency. Relying on survey data of 2,973 observations of SMEs among 34 European countries, our results show that SMEs with constrained access to external financing are indeed more likely to introduce such cost-saving management innovations. We also find evidence that cost-saving management innovations positively affect firm growth. Hence, we find a positive indirect effect of constrained access to external financing on SME revenue growth through cost-saving management innovations. This positive indirect effect suppresses the negative direct effect of constrained access to financing on revenue growth, pointing to a potentially important role of cost-saving management innovations as a coping strategy for constrained access to external financing for SMEs.

Financial constraints have a strong negative effect on firm growth. This is especially relevant to SMEs, as these firms are more likely to have insufficient access to finance. Recent research acknowledges the potential for firms to alleviate some of the negative effects of such financial constraints. This study considers contingency-theory arguments to document to what extent SMEs restructure the organization to better fit with financiers unwilling to provide financing. We use mediation analysis to study the suppressing effect of organizational restructuring on the negative relationship between financial constraints and firm growth. Based on a survey of 2,986 European SMEs, we find that firms are more likely to restructure the organization when they are more financially constrained. Consequently, such organizational restructuring positively impacts firm growth and suppresses the negative effect of financial constraints by 7.6%. SMEs who are able to fit their internal structures and processes with their external context, being financiers who are unwilling to provide financing, are thus able to suppress some of the negative effects of their financial constraints.

While an extensive strategy literature seeks to explain differences in firm performance, little is known about how much firm, industry and host-regions matter in explaining heterogeneity in export behaviors. The international entrepreneurship literature has highlighted that firm-, industry- and hostregion- level factors shape export behaviors, yet more research is needed about their relative contribution. We decompose the variance of export behaviors of 4,982 Belgian SMEs during 2006-2014. Results indicate that firm effects account for the largest part in the variation of export behaviors, followed by industry and host-region effects. However, host-region effects matter more for INVs whereas firm effects matter more for established exporters. There are no substantial differences in industry effects among either sample of firms. Our study contributes to the literatures on variance decomposition and international entrepreneurship.

Ondernemingen worden continu geconfronteerd met toenemende maatschappelijke eisen om milieuen sociale kwesties aan te pakken. Dit systematisch literatuuronderzoek focust zich op de ontwikkeling van een nieuw onderzoeksveld omtrent B Lab certificering. Ondernemingen die zo’n B Lab certificaat ontvangen tonen aan de buitenwereld dat zij niet enkel winstgevend trachten te zijn maar tevens op een duurzame manier willen ondernemen met oog voor maatschappelijke problemen. Aangezien dit een relatief recent fenomeen is, is het noodzakelijk om een overzicht te construeren van de kennis rond B Lab certificering en duidelijke topics te definiëren waar academisch onderzoek over nodig is. We analyseren alle artikels omtrent B Lab certificering (i.e., 46) die verschenen zijn in de ‘Scopus’ en ‘Web of Science’ database. De artikels zijn gepubliceerd tussen 2009 en 2020. Ten eerste, classificeren we huidig onderzoek in twee brede thema’s: de antecedenten en de gevolgen. We kunnen vaststellen dat meer onderzoek nodig is om éénduidige antwoorden te krijgen rond de motivaties en identiteit van de aanvragers, en de gevolgen van B Lab certificering. Ten tweede, definiëren we nieuwe onderzoeksvragen en methodologische uitdagingen. Dit onderzoek biedt inzichten aan ondernemers en academici omtrent B Lab certificering en duurzaam ondernemen in het algemeen.

This study investigates the relationship between founders’ knowledge of different debt financing mechanisms and their start-up’s ability to attract debt financing. Building on the cognitive psychology literature, we propose that the depth of founders’ debt financing knowledge is positively associated with a start-up’s ability to acquire debt financing while the breadth of their debt financing knowledge is negatively associated with this outcome. Moreover, integrating insights on international entrepreneurship, we argue that these relationships will be more pronounced for born globals than for non-born globals. Analyzing survey data on 1,385 start-ups located in Flanders (Belgium) through a Heckman regression model largely confirms our hypotheses. The results have implications for the entrepreneurial finance and international entrepreneurship literature, and for start-ups and policy makers intending to support them."

Recent is er een groeiende belangstelling voor doelgerichte organisaties die een belangrijk onderdeel vormen van structurele veranderingen in onze samenleving. De certificering uitgegeven door ‘B Lab’ biedt een unieke context voor onderzoek naar de opkomst van ‘Certified B Corporations’ (CBC’s), wat winstgevende organisaties zijn met een sterk sociaal bewustzijn. B Lab certificeert ondernemingen gebaseerd op hoe zij waarde creëren voor verschillende types van stakeholders zoals werknemers, de community en de omgeving. Al wint dit certificaat aan populariteit (vooral in de US), in België blijft het een relatief onbekend begrip. Meer inzichten zijn nodig om deze certificatie te begrijpen zowel vanuit het oogpunt van ondernemers, als vanuit het oogpunt van beleidsmakers aangezien CBC’s kunnen helpen om ‘grand societal challenges’ of duurzame ontwikkelingsdoelstellingen aan te pakken. Deze studie zet een eerste stap in het bevorderen van de bekendheid van het begrip CBC en biedt meer inzicht in wat B Lab certificering is en hoe het functioneert.

International audience

Digi-Tec was a growing ICT firm and achieved growth both organically and through mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The large number of shareholders had divergent goals and visions for the future. In order to ensure further growth, two main shareholders searched for an external investor to buy out the others and thereby align and strengthen its governance. In 2011 the Spain-based private equity firm SRIC invested in Digi-Tec. This case documents the interactions between the external investor and the management. An exit opportunity arose much earlier than expected. The investment manager is faced with the question whether it is optimal to exit already after three years, or rather to stay on board for some more years as initially planned.

We use a unique longitudinal dataset that tracks the exporting behavior of Belgian manufacturing firms between 1997 and 2009. We ask how slack resources, including financial and human resource slack, influence firms’ exporting behavior. Our findings suggest that both types of slack resources have an inverted U-shaped relationship with the decision to export. This implies that higher levels of slack resources positively influence the likelihood of firms exporting, but too much slack negatively influences this likelihood. After controlling for the decision to export, we find no significant relationship between slack resources and export intensity. Nevertheless, we do find an inverted U-shaped relationship between slack resources and export diversity. Overall, this study provides new insight into how different types of slack resources influence different aspects of firms’ exporting behavior.