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Business training and female enterprise start-up, growth, and dynamics : experimental evidence from Sri Lanka
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De Mel, Suresh, McKenzie, David and Woodruff, Christopher (2012) Business training and female enterprise start-up, growth, and dynamics : experimental evidence from Sri Lanka. Working Paper. Coventry, UK: Department of Economics, University of Warwick. CAGE Online Working Paper Series, Volume 2012 (Number 98).
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Text (Working paper)
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Official URL: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/resear...
Abstract
We conduct a randomized experiment among women in urban Sri Lanka to measure the impact
of the most commonly used business training course in developing countries, the Start-and-
Improve Your Business (SIYB) program. We work with two representative groups of women: random sample of women operating subsistence enterprises and a random sample of women who
are out of the labor force but interested in starting a business. We track impacts of two treatments
– training only and training plus a cash grant – over two years with four follow-up surveys and
find that the short- and medium-term impacts differ. For women already in business, training
alone leads to some changes in business practices but has no impact on business profits, sales or
capital stock. In contrast the combination of training and a grant leads to large and significant
improvements in business profitability in the first eight months, but this impact dissipates in the
second year. For women interested in starting enterprises, we find that business training speeds
up entry but leads to no increase in net business ownership by our final survey round. Both
profitability and business practices of the new entrants are increased by training, suggesting
training may be more effective for new owners than for existing businesses. We also find that the
two treatments have selection effects, leading to entrants being less analytically skilled and
poorer.
Item Type: | Working or Discussion Paper (Working Paper) | ||||
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Subjects: | H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor > HD28 Management. Industrial Management | ||||
Divisions: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Economics | ||||
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): | Businesswomen -- Sri Lanka, New business enterprises -- Sri Lanka, Training -- Sri Lanka | ||||
Series Name: | CAGE Online Working Paper Series | ||||
Publisher: | Department of Economics, University of Warwick | ||||
Place of Publication: | Coventry, UK | ||||
Official Date: | June 2012 | ||||
Dates: |
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Volume: | Volume 2012 | ||||
Number: | Number 98 | ||||
Number of Pages: | 40 | ||||
Institution: | University of Warwick | ||||
Status: | Not Peer Reviewed | ||||
Publication Status: | Published | ||||
Access rights to Published version: | Open Access (Creative Commons) | ||||
Date of first compliant deposit: | 1 August 2016 | ||||
Date of first compliant Open Access: | 1 August 2016 | ||||
Funder: | World Bank |
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