Small business enterprises have escalated in Sweden during the last decade. However, new established companies are struggling to maintain their selves during the startup process and according to a survey from Tillväxtanalys, only 68 % of startup companies from 2008 were still active three years later. One of the main reasons is lack of capital and the most common approach to finance companies is to apply for a bank loan. In other words, commercial banks are of great importance for new businesses. Although, the problem arises when there is no previous history from the new businesses that the bank could base its credit assessment on. Human capital could therefore be an important intangible asset for the bank to examine. The aim of this study was to describe how banks value human capital and the risk in newly established small enterprises during credit assessment.This qualitative research involves semi-structured interviews and they have formed the base for the empirical results. The study has a deductive approach, since previous theories were first examined in order to create a broader epistemological understanding, which have led the basis for the questions in the interview. Interviews were conducted with four big commercial banks to examine what the credit process looks like and to observe how the banks reason about risk and corporate human capital. Research in previous studies regarding the subject for our research has been made and two main theories, human capital theory and prospect theory, have been examined. Human capital theory has been used to gain an understanding of how human capital operates on the individual level to be able to apply it to the organizational level. There is limited research on how human capital operates on organizational level. Prospect theory shows how people value risk when there is a possibility of losing money, which could be applied to decisions regarding credit. Previous studies demonstrate that risk assessment is often based on historical performance, which could be a problem when banks try to assess new enterprises.The result of this study reveals that risk assessment on new established small enterprises is based on the company’s future instead of past performance. Therefore is it important to have a well-structured business plan, budget and cash flow analysis. Other founding’s in the research shows that banks value people and their human capital within the company. Except from education, experience and knowledge, banks also value people’s private economy. The study also shows that a company’s structural- and relationship capital have a big impact on credit decisions
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-90887 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Johansson, Christoffer, Raiting, Moa |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi, Umeå universitet, Företagsekonomi |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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