CONTENTS: 1. The role of SMEs in Western economies * Introduction * Definitions in SME financing research * Emergence of the research subject * Previous research on financing Irish SMEs * Sources of external finance available to Irish SMEs * Conclusion * 2. SME financing: A life cycle approach * Introduction * Life cycle theory of the firm * Application of the life cycle approach to the SME sector * Empirical examination of the financial growth life cycle model * Distribution of debt and equity across age groups * One-way Anova post-hoc analysis * Comparison of sources of finance employed at start-up and at present * Data on the provision of collateral by respondents * Distribution of collateral provision across age groups * Comparison of collateral provision at start-up and at present * Conclusions * 3. SME financing: Investigation of firm and industry effects * Introduction * Description of variables employed in multivariate models * Summary descriptive data of dependent variables * Summary descriptive data of independent variables * Tests for multicollinearity * Multivariate regression results * Examining statistical significance * Heteroskedasticity * Investigation of sectoral effects * Results of seemingly unrelated regression models * Conclusions * 4. SME owners' financing preferences * Introduction * Respondents' financing preferences * External financing requirement * Perceived availability of finance * Perceived internal growth constraints * Explanations for respondents' financing preferences * Control and managerial independence * Perception of funders and their requirements * Financial objectives * Respondents' considerations when raising external finance * Considerations when raising debt * Considerations when raising external equity * Exploration of signalling, trade-off, and timing theories * Respondents' views on signalling effects * Respondents' views on debt-tax shield benefits of debt * Respondents' views on timing considerations * Conclusion * 5.