Manufacturing Firms in Developing Countries: How Well Do They Do, and Why?

2000 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
James R Tybout
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Small Groups ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Scale Economies ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Monopoly Power ◽  
Firm Productivity ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Manufacturing Sectors ◽  
Open Issues

The manufacturing sectors of developing countries have traditionally been relatively protected. They have also been subject to heavy regulation, much of which has favored large firms. Accordingly, it is often argued that in these countries: (1) markets tolerate inefficient firms, so cross-firm productivity dispersion is high; (2) small groups of entrenched oligopolists exploit monopoly power in product markets; and (3) many small firms are unable or unwilling to grow, so important scale economies go unexploited. Drawing on plant and firm level studies, I assess each of these conjectures and find none to be systematically supported. However, many open issues remain.

scholarly journals Innovation, firm productivity, and export survival: firm-level evidence from ASEAN developing countries

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Utumporn Jitsutthiphakorn
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Process Innovation ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Export Market ◽  
Firm Productivity ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Product And Process Innovation ◽  
Innovation Output ◽  
Product And Process ◽  
Innovation Approach

AbstractThis firm-level study investigates the importance of innovation as a determinant of firm productivity and how firm productivity could impact firm export survival. This is the first integration of the innovation approach, productivity approach, and firm survival approach to explore their linkages at the regional level in ASEAN developing countries. Using the panel database from the World Bank Enterprise Survey, which covers six developing countries in ASEAN—the Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar—and also covers six selected industries, we construct four equations: innovation inputs, innovation output, firm productivity, and export survival. The four equations’ findings suggest that the technology level of the sector, firm size, and exports are significant factors for R&D expenditure (innovation input). R&D expenditure is a significant driver of a firm’s product and process innovation (innovation output). Increasing firm productivity in the six ASEAN developing countries we considered is driven by process innovation rather than product innovation, and productive firms are more likely to survive in the export market.

Lights Off, Lights On: The Effects of Electricity Shortages on Small Firms

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Morgan Hardy ◽  
Jamie McCasland
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Panel Data ◽  
Firm Size ◽  
Null Hypothesis ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Measurable Effect ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Differential Effects

Abstract Entrepreneurs in developing countries report that unreliable electricity imposes a serious constraint, yet little evidence exists on how blackouts impact the micro-firms that account for the majority of employment. This article estimates the effects of outages on small firms using original firm-level panel data and finds evidence of differential effects by firm size. Firms without employees experience large reductions in revenues and profits. Outages have no measurable effect on the output of firms with employees, where worker hours increase, weekly wages paid decrease, and the analysis fails to reject the null hypothesis that blackouts have no effect on (average firm-level) worker hourly wages.

scholarly journals How Important Are Management Practices for the Productivity of Small and Medium Enterprises?

2020 ◽  
pp. 88-112
Author(s):  
Axel Demenet ◽  
Quynh Hoang
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Firm Size ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Financial Capital ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Business Skills ◽  
Entrepreneurial Attitudes ◽  
Medium Enterprises

Is the lack of ‘managerial capital’, alongside human and financial capital, a constraint on the growth of firms in developing countries? The evidence on this is still mixed, especially among small and medium enterprises. This chapter uses a panel of Vietnamese enterprises to investigate this question. We build a multidimensional measure of managerial capital, combining both practices and attitudes, and link it with consistent estimates of firm-level productivity and mark-up. We show that there is a positive and significant association between managerial capital and productivity: changes in management practices allow firms to be more efficient. Furthermore, we compare this association by firm size, and show that managerial capital is arguably as important for micro and small firms as it is for medium ones. Finally, it appears that the indicators related to ‘entrepreneurial attitudes’ play a more important role than elementary business skills.

scholarly journals The Missing “Missing Middle”

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 89-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang-Tai Hsieh ◽  
Benjamin A. Olken
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Informal Sector ◽  
Firm Size ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Firm Growth ◽  
Bimodal Distribution ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Large Firms ◽  
Missing Middle

Although a large literature seeks to explain the “missing middle” of mid-sized firms in developing countries, there is surprisingly little empirical backing for existence of the missing middle. Using microdata on the full distribution of both formal and informal sector manufacturing firms in India, Indonesia, and Mexico, we document three facts. First, while there are a very large number of small firms, there is no “missing middle” in the sense of a bimodal distribution: mid-sized firms are missing, but large firms are missing too, and the fraction of firms of a given size is smoothly declining in firm size. Second, we show that the distribution of average products of capital and labor is unimodal, and that large firms, not small firms, have higher average products. This is inconsistent with many models explaining “the missing middle” in which small firms with high returns are constrained from expanding. Third, we examine regulatory and tax notches in India, Indonesia, and Mexico of the sort often thought to discourage firm growth and find no economically meaningful bunching of firms near the notch points. We show that existing beliefs about the missing middle are largely due to arbitrary transformations that were made to the data in previous studies.

scholarly journals Effect of regional skill gaps and skill shortages on firm productivity

2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 933-952 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Morris ◽  
Enrico Vanino ◽  
Carlo Corradini
Keyword(s):  
Spillover Effects ◽  
Firm Productivity ◽  
Negative Effects ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Regional Productivity ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
Skill Gaps ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Skill Shortages

This paper contributes to the literature on regional productivity, complementing previous education and skill-level perspectives with a novel approach analysing the impact of regional skill gaps and skill shortages. This allows us to reflect the idiosyncratic needs of the regional economic structure better, considering both the demand and supply side of the skills equation in localised labour markets. Controlling for unobserved time-invariant firm-level heterogeneity and other region–industry effects across a longitudinal data set for the period 2008–2014, our analysis reveals a negative direct effect of skill shortages on firm productivity. We further find negative spillover effects for both skill gaps and skill shortages in related industries and proximate regions. Results are also shown to be heterogeneous with respect to agglomeration levels and industrial sectors. Stronger negative effects are found in industries defined by a knowledge-intensive skill base, pointing to the loss of learning effects in the presence of skill deficiencies. Conversely, agglomeration effects appear to moderate the impact of skill deficiencies through more efficient matching in the local labour market. The findings presented thus suggest that policies aimed at improving productivity and addressing the increasing regional productivity divide cannot be reduced to a simple space-neutral support for higher education and skill levels but need to recognise explicitly the presence and characteristics of place-specific skills gaps and shortages.

Analysis of Major Problems Faced by Small Firms in North India

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
pp. 150-160
Author(s):  
Davinder Singh ◽  
Jaimal Singh Khamba ◽  
Tarun Nanda
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Developing Countries ◽  
Economic Development ◽  
Small Firms ◽  
Small And Medium Enterprises ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
North India ◽  
Small Enterprises ◽  
Employment Generation ◽  
Medium Enterprises

Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) have been noted to play a significant role in promoting economic growth in less developed countries, developing and also in developed countries. Worldwide, the micro and small enterprises have been accepted as the engine of economic growth of any nation. Small and Medium Enterprises are the backbone of the economies, because it trigger employment, output, export, poverty alleviation, economic empowerment, economic development etc. in developed as well as in developing countries. It is more important to developing countries as the poverty and unemployment are burning problems. MSMEs have been playing a momentous role in overall economic development of a country like India where millions of people are unemployed or underemployed. Therefore, the growth of small sectors is essential for the growth in the GDP, employment generation, total manufacturing production and export. India, being one of the fastest growing economies of the world, needs to pay an honest attention for the utmost growth of MSMEs for its increased contribution in above areas.

scholarly journals Firm Level Strategy, Organization Culture and Performance of Food and Beverage Manufacturing Firms in Kenya

2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zachary B. Awino ◽  
Dominic C. Muteshi ◽  
Reginah K. Kitiabi ◽  
Ganesh P. Pokhariyal
Keyword(s):  
Policy Formulation ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Organization Culture ◽  
Hierarchical Regression ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Improved Performance ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

The study tested the impact of organization culture on the on the relationship between firm-level strategy and performance of food and beverage manufacturing firms in Kenya. The opinion of the CEO/MDs from 125 firms in this sector was sought by application of a structured questionnaire; the collected data was analysed using hierarchical regression analysis. The paper stated hypothesis that organizational culture has a significant effect on the relationship between firm-level strategy and performance. The results supported the hypothesis. Therefore, firm development of strong organization culture to support firm-level strategy for higher performance is paramount. These findings will contribute to government policy formulation for sector’s expansion and competitiveness and management drives in building a positive organization culture to support firm-level strategy for improved performance.

Servitization of Industry: New Evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 65 (8) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
V. Kondrat’ev ◽  
G. Kedrova ◽  
V. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Policy ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
New Economic Policy ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Policy Regime ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
New Business ◽  
Use Of Services

A significant increase in the use of services is observed for some industries in GVCs (Global Value Chains). The paper has shed light on important dimension of the servitization which is the sale and export of services by manufacturing firms, often bundled together with goods. Firm-level data confirm that many firms are involved both in the production of goods and services and that there are complementarities between these activities. Not only manufacturing firms are involved in the distribution, transport and logistics services needed for their international operations in GVCs but also, they provide installation, maintenance, repair services as well as a variety of other business support and complementary services that increase value for their customers. The servitization has important policy implications, particularly when taking into account the fact that trade in services is generally more restricted than trade in goods. As the lines between goods and services are blurred, economic policy today might be more challenging than in the past, particularly for companies moving to new business models that imply more interactions with customers and a more intensive use of digital technologies. Services themselves are split into different modes of supply for which there are different levels of economic policy. A closer look at the mechanisms of value creation in the case of services suggests that there are still the needs of new economic policy addressed at business models described as value networks or value shops. As technologies become more disruptive and more companies move to ‘servicified’ GVCs, the need for a more consistent international economic policy regime, particularly at the multilateral level, will become more urgent.

AGGREGATE MARKUP DYNAMICS: EVIDENCE FROM CHINA

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
YUE WEN
Keyword(s):  
Trade Liberalization ◽  
Decomposition Method ◽  
Dynamic Change ◽  
Manufacturing Firms ◽  
Sample Period ◽  
Upward Trend ◽  
Firm Level ◽  
Industry Level ◽  
New Perspective

Unlike previous studies that focus on the change of firm-level markup, this study focuses on the change of industry-level aggregate markup. From the data of China’s manufacturing firms in 1999–2007, this study exploits the dynamic change of aggregate markup by using the decomposition method which is proposed by Melitz and Polanec (2015). The result shows that China’s manufacturing aggregate markup has an upward trend during the sample period, which mainly comes from the contribution of surviving firms. On the contrary, the contribution of entering and exiting firms to the aggregate markup is negative. Further analysis shows that trade liberalization is one of the reasons to promote the increase of China’s manufacturing aggregate markup. This study provides a new perspective for understanding the dynamic change of the aggregate markup.

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