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...

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Main Authors: Iacovone, Leonardo, Maloney, William, McKenzie, David
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
id okr-10986-31712
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-317122022-09-20T00:14:33Z Improving Management with Individual and Group-Based Consulting : Results from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia Iacovone, Leonardo Maloney, William McKenzie, David MANAGEMENT EMPLOYMENT SCALING-UP INTERVENTION MANAGEMENT QUALITY FIRM PRODUCTIVITY 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. 2019-05-16T15:47:34Z 2019-05-16T15:47:34Z 2019-05 Working Paper 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 English Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8854 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper Latin America & Caribbean Colombia
repository_type Digital Repository
institution_category Foreign Institution
institution Digital Repositories
building World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection World Bank
language English
topic MANAGEMENT
EMPLOYMENT
SCALING-UP INTERVENTION
MANAGEMENT QUALITY
FIRM PRODUCTIVITY
spellingShingle MANAGEMENT
EMPLOYMENT
SCALING-UP INTERVENTION
MANAGEMENT QUALITY
FIRM PRODUCTIVITY
Iacovone, Leonardo
Maloney, William
McKenzie, David
Improving Management with Individual and Group-Based Consulting : Results from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia
geographic_facet Latin America & Caribbean
Colombia
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8854
description 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.
format Working Paper
author Iacovone, Leonardo
Maloney, William
McKenzie, David
author_facet Iacovone, Leonardo
Maloney, William
McKenzie, David
author_sort Iacovone, Leonardo
title Improving Management with Individual and Group-Based Consulting : Results from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia
title_short Improving Management with Individual and Group-Based Consulting : Results from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia
title_full Improving Management with Individual and Group-Based Consulting : Results from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia
title_fullStr Improving Management with Individual and Group-Based Consulting : Results from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia
title_full_unstemmed Improving Management with Individual and Group-Based Consulting : Results from a Randomized Experiment in Colombia
title_sort improving management with individual and group-based consulting : results from a randomized experiment in colombia
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2019
url 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
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