The health-care industry requires large expenditure on research and development (R&D), with many projects undergoing long development cycles, usually with uncertain outcomes. Extant research has mainly concentrated on the health-care industry in the United States, where R&D costs are expensed as...

This study examines the initial price performance of family and non-family controlled IPO firms listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) between 1988 and 1999. Ownership and control are significant factors that influence managerial incentives, whereas the dynamics underlying family...

This study investigates voluntary demand for auditing by Australian farm businesses, a significant but relatively unexplored segment of the economy. Most farms operate as family partnerships or sole proprietors and we thus focus on incentives to audit arising from internal sources...

Small firms are reliant upon high street banks for the vast majority of their external borrowing. However, despite the dramatic increase in numbers of small firms over the 1980s, and the subsequent rise in bank lending to this sector, the relationship has been far from ideal. This paper...

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, there has been increased focus on access to finance for small firms. Research from before the crisis suggested that it was harder for innovative firms to access finance. Yet no research has considered the differential effect of the crisis on innovative...

Support for small businesses is often delivered separately for urban and rural areas, based on the idea that the barriers to business growth differ geographically. Yet firms in rural and urban areas will also differ in their characteristics, and these may be more important influences on firm...

This paper examines the role of interest rates and securities within the context of the small firm - bank lending relationship and questions whether banks alter their lending conditions on the basis of specific firm characteristics and the nature of the borrowing undertaken. The results suggest...