Die vorliegende Studie analysiert die Ergebnisse einer bundesweiten Unternehmensbefragung zum Finanzierungsverhalten deutscher KMU. Im Fokus stehen die Verfügbarkeit konkreter Finanzierungsinstrumente für KMU und deren Akzeptanz im Mittelstand. Dies soll die derzeitigen Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des heimischen Banken- und Finanzsystems verdeutlichen. Darüber hinaus werden verschiedene Aspekte des Innovationsverhaltens der befragten Unternehmen beleuchtet. Es zeigt sich, dass die Finanzierung aus erwirtschafteten Gewinnen einen überragenden Stellenwert besitzt. Zudem werden neben dem traditionell verankerten Bankdarlehen, vor allem kurzfristige, flexible, aber teure Kontokorrent- und Lieferantenkredite für Investitionszwecke genutzt. Alternative Finanzierungsinstrumente, wie Mezzanine, Beteiligungskapital sowie auch Kapitalmarktfinanzierungen haben bisher nur eine marginale Bedeutung erlangt. Als mögliche Ursachen hierfür sind mangelnde Kenntnisse und persönliche Vorbehalte auf Unternehmensseite, aber auch die grundsätzliche Nichteignung dieser Alternativen festzustellen. So liegt das nachgefragte Finanzierungsvolumen bei KMU häufig unter den Mindestgrenzen derartiger Kapitalgeber. Staatliche Förderinstrumente, welche vor allem von größeren mittelständischen Unternehmen in Anspruch genommen werden, können dabei nur einen Teilbeitrag leisten, um die Finanzierungsrestriktionen zu reduzieren. Im Bereich der Innovationsfinanzierung zeigt sich daher vor allem bei mittelgroßen Projekten ein besonderer Finanzierungsengpass. / This study analyzes the results of a nationwide survey on the corporate financing behavior of German SMEs. The availability of specific financial instruments for SMEs and their acceptance from an entrepreneurial perspective is investigated. Therefore, the current possibilities and limitations of the domestic banking and financial system are illustrated. Moreover, various aspects of the innovation behaviour of the companies are highlighted. It is shown that funding from earned profits has an outstanding importance. Furthermore, beside the traditional Bank loan, especially the short-term, flexible but also expensive overdraft and supplier credit are frequently used for investment purposes. Yet alternative financing capital such as mezzanine, private equity as well as capital market financing instruments had only a marginal importance. Possible reasons for these findings are on the one hand a lack of knowledge and personal reservations from the entrepreneurial perspective. On the other hand, a general unsuitability of these alternatives partially is noted, e.g. the funding volume from SMEs is often below the requested minimum limits of these alternatives. State subsidies, which are taken mainly from larger SMEs, can only make a partial contribution to reduce these financing constraints. Finally, a special funding shortfall is highlighted for medium-sized project´s in the field of innovation financing.

Made available in DSpace on 2010-04-20T20:20:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 180970.pdf: 542308 bytes, checksum: 93ebbbbebb4eb4c1d146f6bedde46447 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-05-07T00:00:00Z / Internationalization is an increasingly important subject for many companies and their managers. It is nearly impossible to remain unaware of globalization and its consequences; even if a company decides to remain in its original market, it must acknowledge the possibility of competition based abroad. Today, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), as well as large ones, are engaging in international activities. Professional service companies, such as engineering consultants, are no exception. A few factors contribute to the interest in studying the engineering consultancy sector. First, there is its importance to society, especially in developing countries, which are often plagued by infrastructure deficiencies. Second, analogies can be made between this specific sector and other consulting businesses, such as those established by lawyers, accountants, and management experts. Finally, there is the fact that the most valuable asset of these companies is knowledge, which is increasingly important to most companies and tends to become a key performance driver. The purpose of the research undertaken here was to explore the internationalization process of Brazilian engineering consulting companies, identifying the main obstacles, constraints, and sources of competitive disadvantage faced by these companies in their internationalization processes. Efforts were also made to identify possible sources of competitive advantage that could compensate for these constraints. To achieve this goal, a case study, focusing on a company with a dozen international projects, was carried out. This allowed for interesting insights; it is hoped that the information obtained and the resulting managerial recommendations will contribute to future internationalization initiatives of small and medium-sized professional service companies. / A importância do tema da internacionalização é crescente, tanto para empresas quanto para seus administradores. É praticamente impossível permanecer alheio à globalização e às suas conseqüências; mesmo que uma empresa opte por permanecer em seu mercado local, pode ser necessário considerar os efeitos de concorrentes baseados no exterior. Hoje, além de grandes corporações, pequenas e medias empresas também tem se internacionalizado. Empresas prestadoras de serviços profissionais, como consultoria de engenharia, não são exceção, e alguns fatores contribuem para o interesse em estudar este setor específico. Em primeiro lugar, deve-se considerar a sua importância para a sociedade, especialmente os países em desenvolvimento, os quais frequentemente sofrem com a carência de investimentos em infra-estrutura. Além disso, existe também a possibilidade de estabelecer analogias entre este e outros serviços de consultoria, como os de advogados, contadores e administradores. Finalmente, contribui para o interesse o fato de que o ativo principal destas empresas é o conhecimento, o qual tem se tornado cada vez mais um aspecto chave para o desempenho e lucratividade das empresas. O objetivo deste estudo é explorar o processo de internacionalização de empresas brasileiras de consultoria de engenharia, identificando os maiores obstáculos, dificuldades e fontes de desvantagem enfrentados por estas empresas na sua internacionalização. Paralelamente, foram realizados esforços para identificar vantagens competitivas que pudessem compensar estas dificuldades. A fim de atingir este objetivo, foi realizado um estudo de caso, focado em uma companhia com uma dúzia de projetos internacionais. Este procedimento permitiu constatações interessantes; espera-se que as informações obtidas e as recomendações decorrentes possam contribuir para iniciativas futuras de internacionalização de pequenas e médias empresas de serviços profissionais.