Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs, hereafter) are important drivers of the global economic development. For the SMEs, to establish and growth, having access to the sources of finance is of great importance. Anecdotal evidence suggeststhat while the importance of having access for the SMEs is apparent, they have been disadvantageous in many different ways. The disadvantage position of the SMEs can even be worse when they are younger (e.g., The World bank, 2001, p. 6-7). Prior research documents many factors that affect the financial constraints of SMEs. In this study, we investigate the association between SMEs age and financial constraints. In addition, we test the moderating effect of collectivism on SMEs’ financial constraints, as collectivism is documented to have an effect on bank corruption. We first hypothesize that there is a negative association between SMEs’ age and financial constraints. We further propose that the negative association between SMEs’ age and financial constraints decreases as collectivism (at the country level) increases. Using a World Bank’s sample of 31422 firms across 38 countries, we find that younger firms, compared to the older firms, experience higher level of financial constraints.Further, we observe an insignificant results regarding the moderating effect of collectivism on the proposed association.We offer contribution to the existing empirical evidence onfactors that affect financial constraints. Providing such an evidence may be found relevant to the economic institutions such as the World Bank and regulatory bodies, as they are allocating resources and making macro level decisions regarding the economicdevelopment through SMEs around the world.

Submitted by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2013-08-12T13:14:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Rbarriga_Thesis.pdf: 231480 bytes, checksum: 63e046be6cc712727fe47afd3a38b527 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2013-08-12T13:15:07Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Rbarriga_Thesis.pdf: 231480 bytes, checksum: 63e046be6cc712727fe47afd3a38b527 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Estagiário SPT BMHS (spt@fgv.br) on 2013-08-12T13:15:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Rbarriga_Thesis.pdf: 231480 bytes, checksum: 63e046be6cc712727fe47afd3a38b527 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-08-12T13:15:29Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Rbarriga_Thesis.pdf: 231480 bytes, checksum: 63e046be6cc712727fe47afd3a38b527 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / This thesis aims to open a theoretical discussion on the importance of cluster for the development of Small and Medium Enterprises. The methodology applied was based on bibliographical and qualitative research. The basic questions raised by this study can be summarized as follows: How the creation of a cluster will help in the development of the SME?. Consequently, the final objective of the work is to identify which are the characteristics that help into the success of a Small & Medium Enterprises inserted in a cluster. The answer to this question led the research to a better understanding of (i) the characterization of the Small & Medium Enterprises; (ii) the clusters theory; (iii) evidence for a developed (Italy) and a developing (Chile) country that support our proposition to verify. The main results confirm the relevance of the cluster for the development of the Small and Medium Enterprises because of the collective efficiency that generates, improving the funding conditions, the exporter capacity and diminishing the activities costs of the small companies that are part of the conglomerate.

中小企業一直以來都扮演著台灣整體經濟的幕後重要推手，但面對全 球經濟景氣多變的經營環境，台灣中小企業面臨的競爭挑戰也日趨增加， 主要原因為全球化趨勢促使產業環境快速變遷、競爭加劇，對中小企業的 經營有著關鍵性的影響，面對這樣強烈的全球化挑戰，中小企業轉型和升 級是必然的。因此，當中小企業遇到經營瓶頸，必須藉由轉型策略，重新 塑造企業競爭優勢，而企業轉型的成敗與人才發展機制息息相關，本次個 案研究以某一具代表性的中小企業科技公司為研究的對象，採用深入訪談 法引導談話方向的訪問方式進行資料收集。 透過實證研究來探討「企業轉型」與「人才發展機制」之間配合運作 方式，並探討企業轉型後，如何利用人才發展機制的因應策略，來提升企 業之組織績效。在組織進行企業轉型策略後，透過適當的人才發展機制的 選擇，讓轉型的績效可以更順利的達成，期望透過這一次的研究，提供中 小企業在面臨到組織轉型時，擬定人才發展機制的參考資料。 / Small & Medium Enterprises (henceforth, SMEs) have acted in an important backstage role as a whole in the economy of Taiwan. Surrounded by the constantly changing business environments in the world, the SMEs in Taiwan faces more competition from domestic and foreign markets. The main reasons are that the trends of globalization have not only had a severe impact on competition, but also on opportunities for SMEs. With strong global competition and challenges, the only way for Taiwan to face international competition is to look at industry transformation. Hence, to solve the difficulties, the entrepreneurs must reshape the competitive advantage through a transformation strategy. And the success or failure of transformation is related to the talent development mechanism. The object of this case study is a figure of small and medium technology company. In this case, gather necessary data through thorough interviews between individuals. For this reason, this paper tends to probe into the relationships between corporate transformation and talent development for SMEs in Taiwan by empirical research and tries to figure out how SMEs use the talent development mechanism to promote the corporate performance after the transformation. Keywords：Small & Medium Enterprises; Transformation Strategy; Talent Development