Can Government Intervention Make Firms More Investment-Ready? : A Randomized Experiment in the Western Balkans

Cusolito, Ana Paula ; Dautovic, Ernest ; McKenzie, David

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: INVESTMENT;    FIRM ENTRY;    START-UPS;    INNOVATION;    ENTREPRENEURSHIP;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-8541
RP-ID  :  WPS8541

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Many innovative start-ups and small andmedium-size enterprises have good ideas, but do not havethese ideas fine-tuned to the stage where they can attractoutside funding. Investment readiness programs attempt tohelp firms to become ready to attract and accept outsideequity funding through a combination of training, mentoring,master classes, and networking. This study conducted afive-country randomized experiment in the Western Balkansthat worked with 346 firms and delivered an investmentreadiness program to half of the firms, with the controlgroup receiving an inexpensive online program instead. Apitch event was then held for these firms to pitch theirideas to independent judges. The investment readinessprogram resulted in a 0.3 standard deviation increase in theinvestment readiness score, with this increase occurringthroughout the distribution. Two follow-up surveys show thatthe judges' scores predicted investment readiness andinvestment outcomes over the subsequent two years. Treatedfirms attained significantly more media attention and were 5percentage points more likely to have made a deal with anoutside investor, although this increase is notstatistically significant (95 confidence interval of -4.7 to+14.7 percentage points).