Vilka finansieringskällor har störst betydelse för tillväxt i svenska SME? : En kvantitativ studie på små- och medelstora företag och hur tillväxt påverkas av olika finansieringskällor samt mikro- och makroekonomiska faktorer

Sammanfattning: Background: SME constitutes to 99,9% of business in Sweden. A central aspect of running a business is to grow, Previous research shows that access to external funds is a limitation for SMEs ability to create growth and therefore capital structure can vary between companies.  Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the financial sources that are of greatest significance for SMEs with positive and negative growth. The purpose is also to investigate whether there are micro and macroeconomic factors that affect the growth of Swedish SMEs. Method: This study has been conducted using a quantitative approach and a random sample of 121 SME from all of Sweden’s stock markets. The research period lasted for 6 years, from 2017 to 2022. In operationalizing the variables, previous research was used, were as the dependent variable was growth in net sales. Multiple regression analysis has been conducted to see if any independent variables had any effect on the growth in net sales.  Results: The result from this study indicates that the percentage of debt and equity are almost the same for SME:s with positive and negative growth. Similar to previous studies this result indicates that the internal cashflow is not enough to finance growth. External finance is therefore crucial to create growth. The external finance with the biggest positive impact on SME:s with positive growth are equity and long-term debt. The external finance with the biggest positive impact on SME:s with negative growth is short-term debt. The conclusion from this study is that the internal cashflow has the biggest impact in determining whether the external finance have a positive or negative impact on net revenue.  This study also found that micro-economic factors affect SME:s. The present study found that younger SME:s has a higher growth rate. Size has a positive effect on SME:s. Out of the macro-economic factors that were used in the study, only business cycle had a significant effect on growth rate.  The result from this study found that pecking order theory is better to describe the capital structure of SME than trade off theory, but both theories are relevant in explaining SMEs options of financial sources.