New regulations: challenge or opportunity for Turkish SMEs?

Purpose - – This study aims to analyze how recent regulation changes, namely, Basel II and the New Turkish Commercial Code, affect small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and the relationship between SMEs and banks in Turkey through the eyes of SME managers. The author believes that the answers could differ for various types of SME. Design/methodology/approach - – In-depth interviews enabled a refined analysis of the effects of regulations in the eyes of firms’ representatives. The study was conducted for SMEs in the Anatolia Organized Industrial Zone. Findings - – One of the important conclusions of the paper is the fact that the loan approval process has been standardized and centralized. The results also show that regulations have different effects on larger and already stable firms than on smaller and/or start-up SMEs that do not have sufficient resources for the transformation required by regulations. Originality/value - – First, this study is a qualitative study that has the advantage of reaching richer and more plausible information that cannot be obtained by analyzing the numbers. Second, this study tries to analyze the perceptions of SMEs’ financial representatives rather than the perspectives of bank representatives. Finally, to the author’s knowledge, there has been no other study that analyzed a developing country on this topic.