The financial stability and access to financing of SMEs in Hungary

The present study was prepared within the framework of cooperation between the Competitiveness Research Centre, operating within the Institute of Business Economics of Corvinus University of Budapest, and the National Association of Entrepreneurs, based on a commission from the latter. Th e goal of the study was to survey the self-financing capabilities and borrowing opportunities of majority Hungarian-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and to identify potential problems. The results of the research revealed that the high proportion of owner’s equity in the financing structure is not due to difficulties with borrowing, but because enterprises that cover their fi nancing primarily from their own resources have other financing opportunities at their disposal. Although general satisfaction with banks shows a diminishing tendency, it can still be interpreted favourably. The majority of companies have not encountered serious borrowing difficulties. With regard to the system of competitive tenders, company managers have sensed some improvement, but general satisfaction is still lacking. Although the research results suggest that the primary obstacle to growth in 2013 was not the lack of credit or external funding, it is important to emphasize that start-ups, young enterprises and micro-enterprises, which struggle the most with financing worries, were not represented in the analysed database.

A vállalkozói hajlandóság vizsgálata a női hallgatók körében Magyarországon (Research of entrepreneurial intentions of the Hungarian female students)

Köztudott, hogy a nők lényeges szerepet töltenek be a gazdasági életben, ezért fontos megvizsgálni azt, hogy melyek az ösztönző és az akadályozó tényezők a vállalkozásindításuk során. Egy 2011-es nemzetközi kutatás többek között a magyar női hallgatók vállalkozói hajlandóságát befolyásoló tényezőket vizsgálta. A kutatás többek között a motivációs tényezőkre, a személyiségjegyekre, valamint a korlátozó tényezőkre irányult. A vizsgálat eredményei azt igazolták, hogy a női vállalkozói létet nemcsak a pénzügyi indítékok vezérelték, hanem a belső tényezők is. Elsősorban az egyéni tényezők jelentették az akadályokat számukra, a szervezeti-környezeti korlátok szerepe kisebb jelentőséggel bírt. A vizsgálat eredményei többnyire a szakirodalmi adatokat igazolták. _____ It is widely known, that women play an important role in the economy, which makes the determination of motives and obstacles during business start-ups inevitable. Hungarian female students were surveyed during an international study in 2011 to determine the factors of entrepreneurial intentions. The survey included among other factors the motives for self‐employment, the personal characteristics and the barriers they faced. Results revealed that primary motivations for females during business start-ups were not only monetary motives, but also intrinsic factors. Problems faced by Hungarian female students were mainly individual; the organizationalenvironmental ones had lower importance. Results on motives and barriers were mostly consistent with the authors’ literature findings.