Impact of European Structural Funds used on competitiveness and financing of portuguese Small-Medium enterprises

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to empirically determine the impacts of European Structural Funds used on the competitiveness and financing of Portuguese Small-Medium Enterprises. Some empirical studies have already been carried out regarding the impact of European Structural Funds in several European countries, especially in macroeconomic terms, but the analysis focused on the microeconomic impact of Small and Medium-sized companies has been less studied. This paper fills that gap, particularly in the case of Portugal, focusing on eligible Small-Medium Enterprises for Portugal 2020. Using a panel data period methodology and considering an unbalanced sample of 228 eligible firms for Portugal 2020 for the period 2015-2019, the results indicate that Small-Medium Enterprises financed by European Structural Funds tend to present a better performance in certain parameters and, consequently, these funds seem reasonable financing option for companies eligible for Portugal 2020. This paper gives a contribution to clarify which are the impact of European Union Structural Funds on Small-Medium Enterprises competitiveness, which is an important issue not only for managers but for all the stakeholders.

Date of Award	13 Jul 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Luis Pacheco (Supervisor)