What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World?

Business training programs are a popular policy option to improve the performance of enterprises around the world, and the number of rigorous impact evaluations of these programs is growing. A critical review reveals that many evaluations suffer from small sample sizes, measure impacts only within a...

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Main Authors:	McKenzie, David, Woodruff, Christopher
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	en_US
Published:	Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank 2015
Subjects:	borrowing business plan business training exchange rate female-owned business finances general population investing large firm loan marketing productivity sales small business training program unemployment
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22564

id	okr-10986-22564
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-225642021-04-23T14:04:09Z What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World? McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher borrowing business plan business training exchange rate female-owned business finances general population investing large firm loan marketing productivity sales small business training program unemployment Business training programs are a popular policy option to improve the performance of enterprises around the world, and the number of rigorous impact evaluations of these programs is growing. A critical review reveals that many evaluations suffer from small sample sizes, measure impacts only within a year of training, and experience problems with survey attrition and measurement that limit the conclusions one can draw. Over these short time horizons, there are relatively modest effects of training on the survivorship of existing firms. However, there is 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 the improvement to practices is often modest. Few studies find significant impacts on profits or sales, although some studies with greater statistical power have done so. There is little evidence to guide policymakers regarding whether any identified effects are due to trained firms drawing sales from competing businesses rather than through productivity improvements or to guide the development of the provision of training at market prices. We conclude by summarizing some directions and key questions for future studies. 2015-08-28T20:22:25Z 2015-08-28T20:22:25Z 2014-01-24 Journal Article World Bank Research Observer 1564-6971 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22564 en_US CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo/ World Bank Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Journal Article
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	en_US
topic	borrowing business plan business training exchange rate female-owned business finances general population investing large firm loan marketing productivity sales small business training program unemployment
spellingShingle	borrowing business plan business training exchange rate female-owned business finances general population investing large firm loan marketing productivity sales small business training program unemployment McKenzie, David Woodruff, Christopher What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World?
description	Business training programs are a popular policy option to improve the performance of enterprises around the world, and the number of rigorous impact evaluations of these programs is growing. A critical review reveals that many evaluations suffer from small sample sizes, measure impacts only within a year of training, and experience problems with survey attrition and measurement that limit the conclusions one can draw. Over these short time horizons, there are relatively modest effects of training on the survivorship of existing firms. However, there is 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 the improvement to practices is often modest. Few studies find significant impacts on profits or sales, although some studies with greater statistical power have done so. There is little evidence to guide policymakers regarding whether any identified effects are due to trained firms drawing sales from competing businesses rather than through productivity improvements or to guide the development of the provision of training at market prices. We conclude by summarizing some directions and key questions for future studies.
format	Journal Article
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	Oxford University Press on behalf of the World Bank
publishDate	2015
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/22564
_version_	1764451428957421568

What Are We Learning from Business Training and Entrepreneurship Evaluations around the Developing World?

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