This paper assesses the role of relationship lending in explaining simultaneously the innovation activity of Small and … SME's increased propensity to introduce product innovation. We further discuss the financial and non-financial channels …

endogenous nature of innovation, we show that all types of banks reward firms' innovative activities. We also provide evidence … that a large internationalized bank more strongly supports product innovation, whereas there is no substantial difference …

financial crisis 2008/2009 on their business customers’ innovation activity. Using a matched bank-firm data set for Germany, we … find that having relations with a more severely affected bank seriously hampers firms’ current innovation activities due to … initiate new product and process innovations and to reallocate human resources to innovation during the financial crisis. …