Credit Access Institutions and Performance of SMEs

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in developing and transition economies. Recently more attention has been paid to the role of institutions in improving firm performance. By using data from the DANIDA project on SME survey with more than 2500 manufacturing firms in Vietnam we examine the the effects institutions on firm performance particularly focusing on small and medium-sized businesses. Multivariate panel regressions have been applied. The results suggest that SMEs domiciled in provinces with higher provincial competitiveness index (PCI) have better performance than SMEs domiciled in low ranked provinces.