The Impact of Consulting Services on Small and Medium Enterprises Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Mexico

Using a randomized evaluation with 432 Mexican small and medium enterprises, this paper shows that access to management consulting led to better firm performance: one-year results show positive effects on return-on-assets and total factor productivity. Owners also had large increases in "entrep...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Bruhn, Miriam
Other Authors: Schoar, Antoinette, Karlan, Dean
Format: eBook
Language:English
Published: Washington, D.C The World Bank 2013
Online Access:
Collection: World Bank E-Library Archive - Collection details see MPG.ReNa
Description
Summary:Using a randomized evaluation with 432 Mexican small and medium enterprises, this paper shows that access to management consulting led to better firm performance: one-year results show positive effects on return-on-assets and total factor productivity. Owners also had large increases in "entrepreneurial spirit" (an entrepreneurs' managerial confidence index). Using Mexican social security data, the analysis finds a large increase in the number of employees and total wage bill several years after the program. The paper documents large heterogeneity in the specific managerial practices that improved as a result of the consulting, but there is no singular mechanism as a panacea for all firms
Physical Description:44 p