Lending Behavior toward Family Firms (Familienunternehmen und KMU)

Sufficient capital is the basic requirement necessary to operate the business, to fund innovation, to drive growth and to successfully hand over the business to next generations. Thomas Pijanowski investigates the impact of family firms on bank loan officers’ judgment and decision making in the context of lending. Using an experimental conjoint approach and building upon behavioral economics he examines the question of whether and why loan officers deal heterogeneously with different types of family firms in the context of their credit availability decisions. The outcome of this research project holds some important implications for practitioners.