Constraints to the growth of small firms in Northern Myanmar

El-hadj Bah and Geo Cooper

No 577, CIS Discussion paper series from Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

Abstract: This paper uses survey data collected from North Western Myanmar to analyze business activity and determine the most binding constraints to firm growth. While the level of entrepreneurship is very high, most firms earn low income and are small and informal with no employees. The most binding constraints are related to financing and competition. We find that informal credit constrained firms grew 8.4% less in 2008-2010. This lack of credit combined with an apparent aversion to debt, limit investment despite high returns. Returns on investments are about 73% per year, which is within the range found in other developing countries.

Keywords: rural investment climate; enterprise development; poverty reduction; small firms growth; Myanmar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: L2 O1 O5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2012-12
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/25482/cis_dp577.pdf

Related works:
Working Paper: Constraints to the Growth of Small Firms in Northern Myanmar (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hit:cisdps:577

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