Abstract

The diffusion of internal rating systems changes the scenario of the financial strategy adopted by firms. The objective of the work consists of understanding how firms can respond to increasingly complex strategies that require an operative and managerial maturity, by building an optimum combination of financing solutions. This element constitutes the fundamental step for ensuring that the new decision- making system, based on the internal rating, can expand the financial options of firms, especially the ones of smaller dimensions. In this context the identification, inside the theoretical framework of value creation, of the most significant factors that act as a stronger sign of the approaching of the firm to a default situation is the premise for making best use of the paths of financial innovation, of which the internal rating is an expression, and to strengthen the company's financial structure.