What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World?
Business training programs are a popular policy option to try to improve the performance of enterprises around the world. The last few years have seen rapid growth in the number of evaluations of these programs in developing countries. This paper u...
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| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/09/16748548/learning-business-training-entrepreneurship-evaluations-around-developing-world http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12054 |
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okr-10986-120542021-04-23T14:02:59Z What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World? McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher ACCESS TO CAPITAL ACCOUNT ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING PRACTICES ACCOUNTING RECORDS ACCOUNTS ADMINISTRATIVE DATA ATTENDANCE RATES BANKS BORROWING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS EXPENSES BUSINESS FAILURES BUSINESS GROWTH BUSINESS INVESTMENT BUSINESS OWNERSHIP BUSINESS PERFORMANCE BUSINESS PLAN BUSINESS PLANNING BUSINESS PLANS BUSINESS PROFITABILITY BUSINESS SCHOOL BUSINESS SERVICES BUSINESS SKILLS BUSINESS TRAINING CALCULATION CALCULATIONS CHECKS CLASSROOM CLASSROOM TRAINING COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS CONSULTING FIRMS CONTRIBUTION COURSE CONTENT CUSTOMER SERVICE DEBT DEBT MANAGEMENT DIRECT COSTS EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING EXCHANGE RATES FEMALE-OWNED BUSINESSES FINANCES FINANCIAL INFORMATION FINANCIAL LITERACY FINANCIAL LITERACY TRAINING FINANCIAL PLANNING GENERAL POPULATION HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES IMPACT EVALUATION INCOME INSTRUCTORS INSURANCE INTEREST RATES INTERVENTIONS INVESTING LABOR FORCE LARGE FIRMS LEARNING LENDER LENDERS LITERACY COURSES LOAN LOCAL SCHOOLS MARKETING MARKETING EFFORTS MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MUSLIM WOMEN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY NEW PRODUCTS OCCUPATIONS PERSONALITY PROBABILITIES PROBABILITY PRODUCTIVITY PROFESSORS PURCHASING QUALITY CONTROL QUESTIONNAIRE RAPID GROWTH RECORD KEEPING REMOTE VILLAGES REPAYMENT REPORTING RESOURCE MANAGEMENT RETENTION RATES RISK AVERSION SALES SAVINGS SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SELF EMPLOYMENT SELF-EMPLOYMENT SKILL TRAINING SMALL BUSINESS SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS SMALL BUSINESSES STARTUPS TAKE-UP RATE TAKE-UP RATES TEACHING TRAINEES TRAINING COURSE TRAINING COURSES TRAINING PROGRAM TRAINING PROGRAMS TRAINING SERVICES VALUABLE VILLAGE LEVEL VOCATIONAL TRAINING WAGE WORK HOURS WORTH YOUTH Business training programs are a popular policy option to try to improve the performance of enterprises around the world. The last few years have seen rapid growth in the number of evaluations of these programs in developing countries. This paper undertakes a critical review of these studies with the goal of synthesizing the emerging lessons and understanding the limitations of the existing research and the areas in which more work is needed. It finds that there is substantial heterogeneity in the length, content, and types of firms participating in the training programs evaluated. Many evaluations suffer from low statistical power, measure impacts only within a year of training, and experience problems with survey attrition and measurement of firm profits and revenues. Over these short time horizons, there are relatively modest impacts of training on survivorship of existing firms, but stronger evidence that training programs help prospective owners launch new businesses more quickly. Most studies find that existing firm owners implement some of the practices taught in training, but the magnitudes of these improvements in practices are often relatively modest. Few studies find significant impacts on profits or sales, although a couple of the studies with more statistical power have done so. Some studies have also found benefits to microfinance organizations of offering training. To date there is little evidence to help guide policymakers as to whether any impacts found come from trained firms competing away sales from other businesses versus through productivity improvements, and little evidence to guide the development of the provision of training at market prices. The paper concludes by summarizing some directions and key questions for future studies. 2013-01-02T21:54:02Z 2013-01-02T21:54:02Z 2012-09 http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/09/16748548/learning-business-training-entrepreneurship-evaluations-around-developing-world http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12054 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper; No. 6202 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Publications & Research |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
ACCESS TO CAPITAL ACCOUNT ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING PRACTICES ACCOUNTING RECORDS ACCOUNTS ADMINISTRATIVE DATA ATTENDANCE RATES BANKS BORROWING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS EXPENSES BUSINESS FAILURES BUSINESS GROWTH BUSINESS INVESTMENT BUSINESS OWNERSHIP BUSINESS PERFORMANCE BUSINESS PLAN BUSINESS PLANNING BUSINESS PLANS BUSINESS PROFITABILITY BUSINESS SCHOOL BUSINESS SERVICES BUSINESS SKILLS BUSINESS TRAINING CALCULATION CALCULATIONS CHECKS CLASSROOM CLASSROOM TRAINING COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS CONSULTING FIRMS CONTRIBUTION COURSE CONTENT CUSTOMER SERVICE DEBT DEBT MANAGEMENT DIRECT COSTS EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING EXCHANGE RATES FEMALE-OWNED BUSINESSES FINANCES FINANCIAL INFORMATION FINANCIAL LITERACY FINANCIAL LITERACY TRAINING FINANCIAL PLANNING GENERAL POPULATION HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES IMPACT EVALUATION INCOME INSTRUCTORS INSURANCE INTEREST RATES INTERVENTIONS INVESTING LABOR FORCE LARGE FIRMS LEARNING LENDER LENDERS LITERACY COURSES LOAN LOCAL SCHOOLS MARKETING MARKETING EFFORTS MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MUSLIM WOMEN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY NEW PRODUCTS OCCUPATIONS PERSONALITY PROBABILITIES PROBABILITY PRODUCTIVITY PROFESSORS PURCHASING QUALITY CONTROL QUESTIONNAIRE RAPID GROWTH RECORD KEEPING REMOTE VILLAGES REPAYMENT REPORTING RESOURCE MANAGEMENT RETENTION RATES RISK AVERSION SALES SAVINGS SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SELF EMPLOYMENT SELF-EMPLOYMENT SKILL TRAINING SMALL BUSINESS SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS SMALL BUSINESSES STARTUPS TAKE-UP RATE TAKE-UP RATES TEACHING TRAINEES TRAINING COURSE TRAINING COURSES TRAINING PROGRAM TRAINING PROGRAMS TRAINING SERVICES VALUABLE VILLAGE LEVEL VOCATIONAL TRAINING WAGE WORK HOURS WORTH YOUTH |
| spellingShingle |
ACCESS TO CAPITAL ACCOUNT ACCOUNTING ACCOUNTING PRACTICES ACCOUNTING RECORDS ACCOUNTS ADMINISTRATIVE DATA ATTENDANCE RATES BANKS BORROWING BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BUSINESS EXPENSES BUSINESS FAILURES BUSINESS GROWTH BUSINESS INVESTMENT BUSINESS OWNERSHIP BUSINESS PERFORMANCE BUSINESS PLAN BUSINESS PLANNING BUSINESS PLANS BUSINESS PROFITABILITY BUSINESS SCHOOL BUSINESS SERVICES BUSINESS SKILLS BUSINESS TRAINING CALCULATION CALCULATIONS CHECKS CLASSROOM CLASSROOM TRAINING COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS CONSULTING FIRMS CONTRIBUTION COURSE CONTENT CUSTOMER SERVICE DEBT DEBT MANAGEMENT DIRECT COSTS EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES ENTREPRENEURSHIP TRAINING EXCHANGE RATES FEMALE-OWNED BUSINESSES FINANCES FINANCIAL INFORMATION FINANCIAL LITERACY FINANCIAL LITERACY TRAINING FINANCIAL PLANNING GENERAL POPULATION HOUSEHOLD EXPENSES IMPACT EVALUATION INCOME INSTRUCTORS INSURANCE INTEREST RATES INTERVENTIONS INVESTING LABOR FORCE LARGE FIRMS LEARNING LENDER LENDERS LITERACY COURSES LOAN LOCAL SCHOOLS MARKETING MARKETING EFFORTS MEDIUM ENTERPRISES MUSLIM WOMEN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY NEW PRODUCTS OCCUPATIONS PERSONALITY PROBABILITIES PROBABILITY PRODUCTIVITY PROFESSORS PURCHASING QUALITY CONTROL QUESTIONNAIRE RAPID GROWTH RECORD KEEPING REMOTE VILLAGES REPAYMENT REPORTING RESOURCE MANAGEMENT RETENTION RATES RISK AVERSION SALES SAVINGS SCHOOLING SCHOOLS SELF EMPLOYMENT SELF-EMPLOYMENT SKILL TRAINING SMALL BUSINESS SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS SMALL BUSINESSES STARTUPS TAKE-UP RATE TAKE-UP RATES TEACHING TRAINEES TRAINING COURSE TRAINING COURSES TRAINING PROGRAM TRAINING PROGRAMS TRAINING SERVICES VALUABLE VILLAGE LEVEL VOCATIONAL TRAINING WAGE WORK HOURS WORTH YOUTH McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World? |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper; No. 6202 |
| description |
Business training programs are a popular
policy option to try to improve the performance of
enterprises around the world. The last few years have seen
rapid growth in the number of evaluations of these programs
in developing countries. This paper undertakes a critical
review of these studies with the goal of synthesizing the
emerging lessons and understanding the limitations of the
existing research and the areas in which more work is
needed. It finds that there is substantial heterogeneity in
the length, content, and types of firms participating in the
training programs evaluated. Many evaluations suffer from
low statistical power, measure impacts only within a year of
training, and experience problems with survey attrition and
measurement of firm profits and revenues. Over these short
time horizons, there are relatively modest impacts of
training on survivorship of existing firms, but stronger
evidence that training programs help prospective owners
launch new businesses more quickly. Most studies find that
existing firm owners implement some of the practices taught
in training, but the magnitudes of these improvements in
practices are often relatively modest. Few studies find
significant impacts on profits or sales, although a couple
of the studies with more statistical power have done so.
Some studies have also found benefits to microfinance
organizations of offering training. To date there is little
evidence to help guide policymakers as to whether any
impacts found come from trained firms competing away sales
from other businesses versus through productivity
improvements, and little evidence to guide the development
of the provision of training at market prices. The paper
concludes by summarizing some directions and key questions
for future studies. |
| format |
Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| author |
McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher |
| author_facet |
McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher |
| author_sort |
McKenzie, David |
| title |
What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World? |
| title_short |
What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World? |
| title_full |
What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World? |
| title_fullStr |
What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World? |
| title_full_unstemmed |
What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World? |
| title_sort |
what are we learning from business training and entrepreneurship evaluations around the developing world? |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2013 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2012/09/16748548/learning-business-training-entrepreneurship-evaluations-around-developing-world http://hdl.handle.net/10986/12054 |
| _version_ |
1764418831112994816 |