A Framework for Selecting Financing Instruments Based on Knowledge-Based Firms Clustering

Today, knowledge-based firms play a significant role in the competitiveness of countries and, therefore, attract the attention of policy makers. One of the biggest challenges of survival and growth in these companies is the suitability of financing. Although different financing instruments are defined for them and various studies have been conducted about these instruments, the major part of these researches are focused on the firm's life cycle. Hence, the variability of instruments on the one hand and differences in the characteristics and performance of the firms on the other hand rise a need to cluster them (firms), based on the factors affecting on the financing, and consequently suggesting the suitable instruments for each cluster. Therefore in this study, financial features have been identified with the help of a questionnaire and their financial statements, also, a cluster analysis has been done with a sample size of 253 Iranian knowledge-based firms. As a result, there is a taxonomy of four types of firms named: New-Comers, Small Manufacturers, Small Service focused firms and Old-timers and suitable financial instruments for each of them are determined. Accordingly, New-Comers have the least choices for financing and Old-timers are faced with a vast range of instruments. Financing for Small Producers and Small Service Providers are different in some cases such as Warehouse Receipts.