The impact of consulting services on small and medium enterprises: evidence from a randomized trial in Mexico

Bruhn, Miriam; Karlan, Dean; Schoar, Antoinette

The impact of consulting services on small and medium enterprises: evidence from a randomized trial in Mexico

Miriam Bruhn, Dean Karlan and Antoinette Schoar

No 6508, Policy Research Working Paper Series from The World Bank

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Access to Finance; E-Business; Microfinance; Economic Theory&Research; Business in Development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013-06-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-ent, nep-mfd, nep-ppm and nep-sbm
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (26)

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