The Impact of Consulting Services on Small and Medium Enterprises : Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Mexico

Bruhn, Miriam ; Karlan, Dean ; Schoar, Antoinette

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCESS TO CREDIT;    ACCOUNTING;    ACCOUNTING PRACTICES;    ACCOUNTS;    ACQUISITION;   

DOI  :  10.1596/1813-9450-6508
RP-ID  :  WPS6508

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

Using a randomized evaluation with 432Mexican small and medium enterprises, this paper shows thataccess to management consulting led to better firmperformance: one-year results show positive effects onreturn-on-assets and total factor productivity. Owners alsohad large increases in "entrepreneurial spirit"(an entrepreneurs' managerial confidence index). UsingMexican social security data, the analysis finds a largeincrease in the number of employees and total wage billseveral years after the program. The paper documents largeheterogeneity in the specific managerial practices thatimproved as a result of the consulting, but there is nosingular mechanism as a panacea for all firms.