Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready?
Innovative start-ups and SMEs in developing and transition countries often have good ideas, but may not have these ideas fine-tuned to the stage where they can attract outside funding. This is the case in the Western Balkans, where there is a perce...
| Main Authors: | , , |
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| Format: | Brief |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2018
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/674591537884909486/Can-Government-Intervention-Make-Firms-More-Investment-Ready http://hdl.handle.net/10986/30501 |
| Summary: | Innovative start-ups and SMEs in
developing and transition countries often have good ideas,
but may not have these ideas fine-tuned to the stage where
they can attract outside funding. This is the case in the
Western Balkans, where there is a perceived lack of
investment readiness of innovative start-ups to be in a
position where they can compete for, and take on, outside
equity.Investment Readiness Programs are a relatively new
intervention that are intended to provide a comprehensive
approach to overcoming the constraints to firms receiving
outside investment through a mix of individualized training,
mentoring and coaching, at an intensity that is sufficient
to make firms more investment-ready, while maintaining a
cost that is low enough to be scalable to large numbers of
firms. These programs have now been used in the U.S. by the
National Science Foundation, and by several government
agencies in Europe (e.g. The UK Government’s Small Business
Service and Enterprise Ireland), along with pilot programs
in Romania and Malaysia. However, to date there is no causal
evidence as to their effectiveness. |
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