Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready? : A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans
Many innovative start-ups and small and medium-size enterprises have good ideas, but do not have these ideas fine-tuned to the stage where they can attract outside funding. Investment readiness programs attempt to help firms to become ready to attr...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/453261533567046459/Can-government-intervention-make-firms-more-investment-ready-a-randomized-experiment-in-the-Western-Balkans http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30231 |
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okr-10986-302312021-06-08T14:42:47Z Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready? : A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans Cusolito, Ana Paula Dautovic, Ernest McKenzie, David INVESTMENT FIRM ENTRY START-UPS INNOVATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES EQUITY INVESTMENT PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT Many innovative start-ups and small and medium-size enterprises have good ideas, but do not have these ideas fine-tuned to the stage where they can attract outside funding. Investment readiness programs attempt to help firms to become ready to attract and accept outside equity funding through a combination of training, mentoring, master classes, and networking. This study conducted a five-country randomized experiment in the Western Balkans that worked with 346 firms and delivered an investment readiness program to half of the firms, with the control group receiving an inexpensive online program instead. A pitch event was then held for these firms to pitch their ideas to independent judges. The investment readiness program resulted in a 0.3 standard deviation increase in the investment readiness score, with this increase occurring throughout the distribution. Two follow-up surveys show that the judges' scores predicted investment readiness and investment outcomes over the subsequent two years. Treated firms attained significantly more media attention and were 5 percentage points more likely to have made a deal with an outside investor, although this increase is not statistically significant (95 confidence interval of -4.7 to +14.7 percentage points). 2018-08-15T19:05:52Z 2018-08-15T19:05:52Z 2018-08 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/453261533567046459/Can-government-intervention-make-firms-more-investment-ready-a-randomized-experiment-in-the-Western-Balkans http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30231 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8541 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Europe and Central Asia Eastern Europe |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English |
| topic |
INVESTMENT FIRM ENTRY START-UPS INNOVATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES EQUITY INVESTMENT PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT |
| spellingShingle |
INVESTMENT FIRM ENTRY START-UPS INNOVATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION RANDOMIZED CONTROL TRIAL SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES EQUITY INVESTMENT PRIVATE SECTOR DEVELOPMENT Cusolito, Ana Paula Dautovic, Ernest McKenzie, David Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready? : A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans |
| geographic_facet |
Europe and Central Asia Eastern Europe |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8541 |
| description |
Many innovative start-ups and small and
medium-size enterprises have good ideas, but do not have
these ideas fine-tuned to the stage where they can attract
outside funding. Investment readiness programs attempt to
help firms to become ready to attract and accept outside
equity funding through a combination of training, mentoring,
master classes, and networking. This study conducted a
five-country randomized experiment in the Western Balkans
that worked with 346 firms and delivered an investment
readiness program to half of the firms, with the control
group receiving an inexpensive online program instead. A
pitch event was then held for these firms to pitch their
ideas to independent judges. The investment readiness
program resulted in a 0.3 standard deviation increase in the
investment readiness score, with this increase occurring
throughout the distribution. Two follow-up surveys show that
the judges' scores predicted investment readiness and
investment outcomes over the subsequent two years. Treated
firms attained significantly more media attention and were 5
percentage points more likely to have made a deal with an
outside investor, although this increase is not
statistically significant (95 confidence interval of -4.7 to
+14.7 percentage points). |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Cusolito, Ana Paula Dautovic, Ernest McKenzie, David |
| author_facet |
Cusolito, Ana Paula Dautovic, Ernest McKenzie, David |
| author_sort |
Cusolito, Ana Paula |
| title |
Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready? : A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans |
| title_short |
Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready? : A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans |
| title_full |
Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready? : A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans |
| title_fullStr |
Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready? : A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready? : A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans |
| title_sort |
can government intervention make firms more investment-ready? : a randomized experiment in the western balkans |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2018 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/453261533567046459/Can-government-intervention-make-firms-more-investment-ready-a-randomized-experiment-in-the-Western-Balkans http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30231 |
| _version_ |
1764471481025167360 |