This paper investigates the factors that determine the profitability of non-listed energy firms from four central European countries: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic. We apply the regression analysis, on a large panel of firm-year observations for the 2015–2019 timespan, to verify the hypothesis on the inversed relationship between leverage and profitability of the companies performing in the energy sector. Our results support the inversed relationship for debt in total and long-term debt, which are consistent with the assumptions of the pecking order theory. However, for short-term debt, we have found a direct relationship, which confirms the assumptions of the trade-off theory of capital structure. Our work contributes to the existing debate on the interplay between financial leverage and profitability, by providing evidence for a large panel of non-listed firms, from a single sector (energy)-oriented perspective.

This study addresses the types of innovation activity of SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises) in the European Union and its association with financing decisions. The main objective is to capture the cross-country differences in the types of innovation in SMEs and then investigate the relationship between the types of innovations and relevance of a given type of funding. In the empirical examinations, we use the non-parametric methods, due to the nature of the data. We have found out that there are differences in the types of innovation activity of SMEs in the cross-country dimension. We have also confirmed the contingencies between the types of innovations undertaken by SMEs in each cluster of the European countries, which suggests that various types of innovations co-exist. However, we have not found any unified pattern of correlations between the relevance of a given source of financing and a given type of innovation. Our study contributes to the ongoing debate on the different intensity of innovation activity of SMEs, as linked to the problem of the SMEs financing gap as one of the fundamental drivers of innovation.

FinTech and its interaction with banking is widely discussed today as a new phenomenon notwithstanding the relationship between technology and financial services is not a new topic. Most of the research focuses on innovations and determinants of their adoptions including among other innovations in the payment system. The studies dedicated directly to PayTechs as a special kind of a FinTech entity and its market activity are a relatively new field of research. This paper aims to fill this gap. The multidimensional character of this exploratory research causes the necessity to apply various research methods, including both inductive and deductive methods, together with comparative analysis. The theoretical analysis conducted in the paper for defining PayTechs from the perspective of business model and market behavior was based on an in-depth literature review. In this section, the inductive method and comparative analysis were mostly applied. The empirical part of the paper includes the analysis of quantitative data published by the National Bank of Poland (NBP), Central Statistical Office (GUS), and Bank for International Settlements (BIS). The subject of the case is the Polish Payment Standard referred to as BLIK implemented in Poland in 2015 for mobile payments. The BLIK diffusion is measured by the number of entrants and acceptants as well as the scope of transactions while the adoption by the number of customers using BLIK in everyday transactions. The results present the market behavior of BLIK as an open business model and the key success factors of BLIK adoption and diffusion and the determinants for further open payment innovations’ development. The newly developed definition of PayTechs, the identification of the major components of the PayTech open business model, as well as the indication of the key success factors of adoption and diffusion of m-payments, constitute the original contribution of the paper.

This study contributes to the emerging stream of the literature on the COVID-19-related risks and their impact on businesses’ performance. The growing evidence within is, however, missing the uniqueness of country-level settings, as well as lacking the voice of SMEs solely. The extant literature provides some evidence on SMEs’ vulnerabilities to the crisis, but it commonly compares SMEs with large firms. To cover this gap, the main aim of this study is to analyze the perception of COVID-19 interruptions by various groups of Polish SMEs. Thus, this work adds primarily by revising the perceptions of COVID-19 risks, given the heterogeneity of SMEs if we consider their size, age, legal form of organization and status of a family firm. Based on the survey results on SMEs operating in Poland, we employ ANOVA and k-means ranks to provide strong evidence that COVID-19’s impact was perceived as more interruptive by micro and very young firms, as well as by the firms that perform as sole proprietorships. We have also found evidence that family firms do not differ from non-family ones in the perceptions of COVID-19 impacts.

PURPOSE: Businesses are regarded as the main agents that can help achieve sustainable development. Therefore, more and more firms of various characteristics integrate sustainability issues into their business strategies. There is ongoing debate on the relationship between sustainability engagement and firm performance, with ambiguous results. Our study falls into this stream of research by adding the perspective of the Central European economy. The main objective of our paper is to examine the relationship between firm sustainability performance and its financial performance in the context of various corporate governance characteristics (in particular board attributes and ownership structure). METHODOLOGY: Our research sample covers firms listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange representing various indexes (related to their size) and sectors in 2015–2021. We measure sustainability performance with our original aggregated index created by integrating key firm ESG engagement characteristics. Financial performance is analyzed from two different perspectives – accounting perspective illustrated by profitability of assets (ROA) and market perspective - illustrated by market value (MV/BV ratio). To achieve the research aims, several statistical methods were employed in the study, including selected descriptive statistics and panel regression models. FINDINGS: Our results confirm a significant positive relationship between sustainability and financial performance, as measured by ROA and MV/BV ratios. Additionally, we observe a significant positive relationship between gender diversity on the management board (the presence of women on the management board) and accounting performance. Our results provide an argument for firm engagement in sustainability initiatives, as it may improve its profitability and market value. IMPLICATIONS for theory and practice: Our study not only contributes to the corporate finance and sustainability literature by providing evidence on the relationship between sustainability performance and financial performance in the context of the Central European economy, but also provides insights for corporate governance research in terms of boards attributes and different types of ownership structures. The policy suggestions derived from our findings can benefit both managers and regulators, focusing on the sustainable development paradigm and ultimately enhancing overall stakeholder well-being. ORIGINALITY AND VALUE: The originality of our research stems from investigating the relationship between sustainability performance and firm performance from both an accounting and a market perspective and using the original sustainability index developed for the purpose of the study. Additionally, we address potential gaps in existing research by incorporating several corporate governance characteristics to clarify their importance for a firm performance.

This paper addresses the application of financial innovations from the corporate finance perspective. The objective is to identify and prioritize the main types of barriers to the implementation of financial innovations by nonfinancial firms. The motivation behind the study lies in the importance of financial innovations for the firms’ ability to create value. As proven by the extensive literature review, comprehensive studies on financial innovation applications by nonfinancial firms are relatively rare. To cover this cognitive gap, the theoretical argumentation followed by the discussion of results of the empirical research are presented in this paper. The paper provides the results of two-stage survey research, aiming to find opinions of financial managers (end-users) and experts (creators of innovation) on the main barriers to financial innovations in Poland. According to managers, the most important are exogenous barriers, including: (1) Unclear tax and accounting regulations, (2) complex construction of financial innovations, and (3) transaction costs related to their application. On the other side, the experts from financial institutions recognized the greater importance of endogenous factors such as: (1) Lack of sufficient knowledge about financial innovations and (2) the reluctance to change observable in many firms. This study contributes to the ongoing debate on financial innovations by adding the perspective of corporate financial strategy. It also offers insights into the potential actions (at the institutional and individual level) aiming to reduce the barriers and support the implementation of financial innovations by nonfinancial firms.