Improving Management with Individual and Group-Based Consulting : Results from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia
Differences in management quality are an important contributor to productivity differences across countries. A key question is how to best improve poor management in developing countries. This paper tests two different approaches to improving manag...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
World Bank, Washington, DC
2019
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/166671557929384690/Improving-Management-with-Individual-and-Group-Based-Consulting-Results-from-a-Randomized-Experiment-in-Colombia http://hdl.handle.net/10986/31712 |
| Summary: | Differences in management quality are an
important contributor to productivity differences across
countries. A key question is how to best improve poor
management in developing countries. This paper tests two
different approaches to improving management in Colombian
auto parts firms. The first uses intensive and expensive
one-on-one consulting, while the second draws on
agricultural extension approaches to provide consulting to
small groups of firms at approximately one-third of the cost
of the individual approach. Both approaches lead to
improvements in management practices of a similar magnitude
(8-10 percentage points), so that the new group-based
approach dominates on a cost-benefit basis. Moreover, the
paper finds some evidence that the group-based intervention
led to increases in firm size over the next three years,
while the impacts on firm outcomes are smaller and
statistically insignificant for the individual consulting.
The results point to the potential of group-based approaches
as a pathway to scaling up management improvements. |
|---|