The Big Business of Small Enterprises : Evaluation of the World Bank Group Experience with Targeted Support to Small, and Medium-Size Enterprises, 2006-2012
The World Bank Group promotes small and medium-size enterprise (SME) growth through both systemic and targeted interventions. A critical challenge is to root the many activities now undertaken in this broad space in a clear understanding of the cha...
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| Format: | Publications & Research |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC: World Bank
2015
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2014/03/23169324/big-business-small-enterprises-evaluation-world-bank-group-experience-targeted-support-small-medium-term-enterprises-2006-2012 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21191 |
| Summary: | The World Bank Group promotes small and
medium-size enterprise (SME) growth through both systemic
and targeted interventions. A critical challenge is to root
the many activities now undertaken in this broad space in a
clear understanding of the characteristics and dynamics of
SMEs role in the broader economy; and their actual and
potential contribution to jobs, growth, and shared
prosperity. A closely related challenge is to formulate
clear strategies that connect interventions to intended
outcomes and are accompanied by solid measurement systems
that provide evidence of results and allow learning.
Targeting means focusing benefits on one size-class of firms
to the exclusion of others. Targeted support for SMEs is a
big business for the World Bank Group, averaging around $3
billion a year in commitments, expenditures, and gross
exposure over the 2006-12 periods. In the context of broader
reforms, targeted small and medium-size enterprise (TSME)
support can be a powerful tool and, given the size of the
recent program, it is vital for the World Bank Group to use
it effectively. Targeting SMEs is not an end in itself, but
a means to create economies that can employ more people and
create more opportunity for citizens to achieve prosperity.
A thriving and growing SME sector is associated with rapidly
growing economies. IEG s review of the SIP suggests that
although it has high relevance, it is of doubtful efficacy
and efficiency. MIGA s regular portfolio of TSME projects
performs worse than other financial sector guarantees, and
there is no evidence to determine their impact on SMEs. The
viability and sustainability of SMEs investments, whether
through SIP or the wholesale approach, could not be
ascertained because of the lack of information on results
and performance. |
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