Poor management has long been suspected as a major constraint on job creation in the manufacturing sector in low-income countries. In this sector, countless micro and small enterprises in industrial clusters account for a large share of employment. This paper examines the roles of industrial...

This paper analyzes the impact of two distinct shocks stemming from the cross-border transmission of the 2007-2009 crisis on credit availability for small firms. The paper uses data from AccessBank Azerbaijan which was affected in its liquidity position during the second and third quarters of...

The majority of firms in most developing countries are informal. The authors of this paper conducted a field experiment in Sri Lanka that provided incentives for informal firms to formalize. Offering only information about the registration process and reimbursement for direct registration costs...

Combining two unique data sets, this paper explores the relationship between the relative importance of different financial institutions and their average size and firms' access to financial services. Specifically, the authors explore the relationship between the share in total financial assets...

The vast majority of micro and small enterprises in developing countries are located in industrial clusters, and the majority of such clusters have yet to see their growth take off. The performance of micro and small enterprise clusters is especially low in Sub-Saharan Africa. While existing...

Among the principal constraints for SME lending is the lack of SME transparency, poor credit information from credit registries and bureaus, and weak creditor rights. If constraints can be addressed, lending can potentially reach bank targets of 21 percent. State banks still play an important...

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008-2009, there has been an increased interest in the role of small and medium enterprises in job creation and economic growth. However the lack of consistent indicators at the country level restricts extensive cross-country analyses of lending...

This paper analyzes the link between firm size and investment in job training by employers. Using a large firm level data set across 99 developing countries, the analysis shows that a strong and positive correlation in investment in job training and firm size is a robust statistical finding both...

Many studies have shown that firm growth decreases monotonically with size and age. In this study, the authors investigate employment growth of firms in Turkey with an emphasis on small and medium size enterprises. In Turkey, small and medium size enterprises account for almost 77 percent of...

Unlike social programs targeting individuals, few enterprise support programs have been rigorously evaluated, and existing evaluations have mostly been done in high-income countries such as the United States and Europe. Mexico spends a large share of government resources on small and medium...