Italian credit cooperative banks: the fundamental role in supporting the growth of SMEs and family businesses

Our research concentrates on the role of Italian credit cooperative banks, supporting the entrepreneurship and the development of SMEs and family businesses. We took into consideration the data of loans, allocated by those banks in 2014. We tried to find the relationship between the banking system and the world of SMEs and family businesses. This research represents the first step of a far deeper analysis. In this stage, we aimed at providing the groundwork for further empirical and qualitative analyses. Therefore, we try to improve the existing literature by using a conceptual approach. Despite the limitations of this research, researchers in the field of SMEs and credit cooperative banks can consider the opportunities for further developments of our analysis. Our findings give evidence that SMEs and family businesses need the support of the credit cooperative banks, in order to further exploit the opportunity to expand their businesses.