Small trading activities are a prevalent form of self-employment in developing countries, but their integration into supply value chains is not efficient, especially when it comes to perishable produce.
... See More + This study tests a novel approach to improve their efficiency by reducing the time and cost of sourcing produce by aggregating purchases through the use of an app and centralized distribution system. Fruit and vegetable vendors in Bogotá currently travel most days to a central market to purchase produce, incurring substantial time and monetary costs. A social enterprise attempted to shorten the supply chain between farmers and vendors by aggregating orders from many small stores, sourcing directly from farmers, and delivering them to the stores. The introduction of this new service was randomized at the market block level. Initial interest was high and offering the service reduced travel time for users by almost two hours a week, reduced travel costs, and increased work-life balance for store owners. Firms offered the service saved an average of 6 to 8 percent on purchase costs, and although some of this passed through into lower prices for consumers, there was incomplete pass-through, so that markups rose. However, stores reduced their sales of products that were not originally offered by this new service, and their total sales and profits appear to have fallen in the short run, with service usage falling over time. The results highlight the potential for new technologies to solve firm coordination problems, offer a window into the nature of competition among small retailers, and point to the challenges in achieving economies of scale when disrupting centralized markets for multi-product firms.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS8977 AUG 12, 2019
The latest note examines the impact of a social enterprise's attempts to shorten the supply chain between farmers and small retail stores in Bogota, an idea that was one of the winners of the SME ideas competition.
... See More + The small retail stores that are prevalent on many street corners in developing countries face very different supply chains for different products. On one hand, multinational suppliers of branded non-perishable products have amazingly efficient supply chains that result in store-door delivery to even the most remote places. In contrast, the fresh fruit and vegetables they sell are part of what are typically much less efficient supply chains, that often end in centralized wholesale markets, requiring substantial travel time and costs for retail store vendors, and increased food costs for the urban poor. This is the case in Bogota, where the typical store owner gets up at 4:30am each morning, and spends an average of 2 hours travelling to, around, and back from the central market of Corabastos in order to buy fruits and vegetables.
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This report presents findings from an assessment of quality of care in the health sector in Colombia, using a novel methodology developed by the World Bank Group to assess government oversight, promotion and stewardship of quality of care in the health sector.
... See More + This assessment of quality of care in the health sector in Colombia examines how well governments strategize, plan and measure quality; set standards of care; build capacity for quality improvement in the sector; ensure adequate resources are available and well distributed to support quality results; hold organizations accountable for quality results; apply quality policies consistently; and achieve superior quality of care results. This methodology evaluates these eight domains using 49 criteria based on 171 standards. The assessment is based on quantitative analytics, key informant interviews, over 30 visits of public and private healthcare facilities, a review of key policy documents and a survey of a sample of health insurance companies. The assessment is a joint initiative from the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and was undertaken for the first time in Colombia. It took place from January to June 2019.
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