Export and its financing in the SME segment. Case study from Slovakia

Abstract

The export orientation of small and medium enterprises represents an important attribute of the enterprises' competitive ability. In this context, the area of export financing becomes a very important field of company management. The aim of this study is to define and quantify relevant approaches of entrepreneurs to the export activities and export financing, with regard to the impact of the selected socio-economic factors (gender, level of education and age). The study is based on the research of Slovak business environment carried out in 2016, which was evaluated by the tools of descriptive statistics, including percentages and averages, pivot tables, the methods of comparison and deduction, Pearson's chi-square statistics at 5% significance level. Our results suggest that Slovak entrepreneurs primarily supply their products and services on the domestic market, while their export potential is limited. The assessment of the state support of export activities is rather negative. An alarming finding is that Slovak entrepreneurs in the SME segment do not use even basic tools of financial risk reduction to a higher extent, and that the usage of services of the state export bank Eximbank is negligible.