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 productiv...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Policy Research Working Paper |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2013
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/06/17926666/impact-consulting-services-small-medium-enterprises-evidence-randomized-trial-mexico-impact-consulting-services-small-medium-enterprises-evidence-randomized-trial-mexico http://hdl.handle.net/10986/15867 |
| 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. |
|---|