RISK MANAGEMENT AND FINANCING AMONG START-UPS

This article is a part of a multi-layered scientific discussion dedicated to risk management methods and their efficiency as well as the use of risk financing instruments available on the market by start-ups. The authors have to emphasize that due to their specific business activity, these entities do not fit into traditional statistics, so it is very hard to analyse this environment without targeted research. What is more, due to a relatively short history of start-ups in the realm of global economy, we lack a broader spectrum of publications that would present results of studies and analyses devoted to the activity of such innovative enterprises. This study attempts at filling this gap and takes on the theme that has not been investigated so far, despite its topicality resulting from the growing significance of start-ups in the economy, not only on the national but also on the international scale. The main objective of the study is to learn about the use of risk management tools and methods of risk financing in this group of entities. Research tools used in the analysis included questionnaires and expert opinions gathered in the course of conducting in-depth interviews. The expert synthesis was carried out by means of a multi-criterion Analytic Hierarchy Process, used at analysing complex decision-making problems. The study focused on 25 start-ups incubated at the Podkarpacki Science and Technology Park, which is located in the south-eastern region of Poland. The research group was gathered on the basis of targeted selection, so as to take account of the specificity of such enterprises. A group of 10 experts took part in the research. They represented start-ups, financial and scientific sectors and were knowledgeable in the field of start-up activity. The article presents results of an empirical analysis, which demonstrated that start-ups did not use risk management tools in their business activity, accepting risk mainly as self-insured retentions and treating it as an indispensable element of their activity without making any minimizing attempts. The study also showed that insurance was the best risk financing instrument for this group of entities. The obtained results can contribute to further multilayered studies in the scope of start-up activity subject to volatile business risk and can be used in practice by such entities in the process of limiting their business risk.