This evaluation focuses on the World Bank Group’s support to enhancing industry-specific productivity and competitiveness, and examines the implications of improved industry competitiveness for employment during the last decade.
... See More + The evaluation focuses on activities with explicit objectives to support competitiveness in the industries of manufacturing (including agribusiness), information and communication technology, tourism, and agriculture. The support to economy wide reforms, which in turn might also have an impact on these industries, is beyond the scope of this evaluation. The report draws conclusions on the relevance of the Bank Group’s support to productivity and competitiveness, the design and operational implementation of Bank Group strategies and performance results across different countries including the impact on employment generation.
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Little is known about innovation in developing countries, partly because of the lack of comparable and reliable data. Collecting data on firm-level innovation is challenging because of the subjective definition of what determines an innovation, a problem that is exacerbated in developing countries where innovation is likely to be more incremental and less radical.
... See More + This paper contributes to the literature by presenting the results of an experiment aiming to identify the survey instrument that better captures firm-level innovation in developing countries. The paper shows that a small set of questions included in a multi-topic, firm-level survey does not provide an accurate picture of firm-level innovation and tends to overestimate innovation rates. Issues related to framing explain some of the unreliability of innovation responses, while cognitive problems do not appear to play a significant role.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7696 JUN 06, 2016
This practical notes series is devised as a how-to guide that captures the evolution of Public Private Dialogues (PPD) and the challenges faced by practitioners since the first PPD handbook was published in 2006.
... See More + It considers the varied and evolving forms of PPD, the contexts in which PPD is most effective, and its processes of implementation and sustainability. The design, implementation, and challenges associated with investment climate, competitiveness, and sector-specific PPDs are discussed, as well as an updated methodology for the monitoring and evaluation of PPDs. The series further provides an updated “Charter of Good Practice” in Annex I that reflects practice modifications and improvements since being first elaborated at the 2006 Paris Global PPD Workshop. The series takes the Charter’s principles as its base, and expands on them with practical advice and recommendations. It comprises five practical notes: PPD Practical Note 2 PPD Processes and Secretariat Unit: This note on implementation processes examines the practical elements that go into the design, implementation and management of a PPD.
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The Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI), Ministry of Shipping, Government of India is implementing the Jal Marg Vikas Project for capacity augmentation of navigation on National Waterway -1 (Allahabad to Haldia stretch) on the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hoogly River System.
... See More + The capacity augmentation primarily proposed includes development of the infrastructural facilities i.e. river terminals with appropriate cargo handling capacity and equipment for facilitating integration with other modes of transportation; one navigational lock, provision of navigation aids; river information system; RO-RO jetties; Some of the negative and mitigation measurers : Land owners categorically said that land will be given only, if they will get appropriate compensation, The participants expressed that they require employment, if complete land will be taken away from them, They mentioned that large number of trees are present in the land which is under planning to be acquired, cutting of large no. of trees will affect the environment of village thus equal number of trees should be planted before cutting the trees in nearby land areas, Land owners are expecting appropriate compensation for their land and also assistance in alternative livelihood if their land will be acquired. Farmers whose land will be acquired are worried due to loss of land and loss of livelihood as they are practising agriculture for generations cutting of large nos. of trees within the project site will impact the climate of the area. Affected persons claimed that assistance should be given for alternate livelihood, The Contractors may engage local people for nonskilled Jobs as per their requirement and the skills of persons. It was explained that no religious area will be affected and wherever there is any indirect impact, religious structures shall be protected.
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Since 2003, the Philippines have been striving to implement reforms aimed at improving audit quality. Oversight of the audit profession is a key control over the financial reporting architecture of a country’s private sector.
... See More + A Quality Assurance Review system over audit practitioners is a subset of oversight which serves as a key monitoring control over the integrity of financial reporting. In keeping with the country’s strategic priority of boosting private sector development by improving the investment climate for firms of all sizes, including greater access to finance, legislation was enacted to support the objective of increasing the integrity of private sector financial reporting through improved audit quality. Accordingly, the Board of Accountancy was mandated with the power to conduct oversight into the quality of audits of financial statements through a review of the quality control measures instituted by auditors in order to ensure compliance with the accounting and auditing standards and practices. . However, the injunction remains in place and, accordingly, implementation of the mandated Quality Assurance Review Program may not move forward. Several concrete steps should be taken in order to effectively move forward with the rollout of a comprehensive system of public oversight including audit quality assurance in the Philippines. These include (1) reforming the legal framework to establish an effective audit oversight system with sufficient legal power and authority (2) rationalizing the statutory audit threshold to minimize the conditions contributing to low quality audits, (3) building support among key stakeholder groups by properly addressing their concerns to the extent possible, (4) ensuring coordination of efforts among regulators to eliminate gaps and overlaps and foster collaboration among the group, and (5) establishing a dedicated Project Management Office to oversee the rollout of a Quality Assurance Review Program over audit practitioners.
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The challenge posed by climate change demands collective action by governments, industries, and societies at large, both in terms of the threats it poses and the opportunities it presents.
... See More + The private sector, with its significant financial resources and dedication to innovation, has a leading role to play in the urgent global effort to reduce the negative effects of climate change and create the healthy, thriving zero-carbon economy of the future. CEOs from industries ranging from textiles to technology companies have pledged to scale-up efforts and investment in climate action and over 1,000 global businesses are asking for a meaningful price on carbon. Private sector involvement can take many forms, from development of new technologies and financial instruments to participation in policy development. Maximizing the participation in this global endeavor requires a robust, structured dialogue for action on climate change.
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This publication provides an assessment of new developments and recent trends on competition advocacy based on an innovative and comprehensive conceptual framework that builds on practical implementation by authorities across jurisdictions.
... See More + It systematically reviews different objectives of advocacy, the tools that authorities have been employing to these ends, the scope of legal mandates on the basis of which authorities develop these tools and the strategies with which authorities achieve tangible impacts for consumers and the broader economy. Against this background, the third chapter of this book further presents the individual results of advocacy initiatives awarded at the World Bank Group’s and International Competition Network’s Competition Advocacy Contest for 2014/15. The final chapter extracts the key lessons learned from successful competition advocacy initiatives, drawing on the results from all awarded stories under the Annual Competition Advocacy Contest and the experience of the World Bank Group in implementing competition policy projects and providing support to competition advocacy in 40 countries worldwide.
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This paper uses a unique firm-level data set for Mexico, with information never used for research before, to assess how use of information technology (IT henceforth) influences firm performance.
... See More + Further, the paper explores if, in the context of increasing competition from China, this effect is different for firms more strongly affected by competition where incentives for upgrading and innovation may be more intense. In this perspective, the paper analyzes the complementarity between IT and other changes spurred by competition, taking advantage of the exogenous shock generated by Chinese competition. The results indicate that IT use has higher effects over productivity in the case of firms facing higher competition from China, in the domestic market and in the U.S. market. Furthermore, the paper shows how these changes appear to be driven by complementary investments in innovation and organizational changes.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7638 APR 13, 2016
Iacovone,Leonardo; Pereira Lopez,Mariana De La Paz; Schiffbauer,Marc TobiasDisclosed
This paper presents a set of stylized facts on the relation between information and communications technology (ICT) use, firm performance, and competition.
... See More + Taking advantage of a novel firm-level data set on information and communications technology for Mexico, the study finds that firms facing higher competition appear to have more incentives to increase their use of information and communications technology. Accordingly, although there is indeed a positive relation between information and communications technology use and firm performance, this effect is greater for firms that face higher competition pressures, which is consistent with the theoretical predictions of the trade-induced technical change hypothesis.
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Policy Research Working Paper WPS7629 APR 11, 2016
Iacovone,Leonardo; Pereira Lopez,Mariana De La Paz; Schiffbauer,Marc TobiasDisclosed
The development objective of the Pan-African Civil Society Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Capacity Building Program (CBP) on REDD Project for Africa is to strengthen: (i) the knowledge of targeted southern civil society organizations and local communities of REDD Readiness at the national level (ii) knowledge exchange at the regional level.
... See More + This project has three component. 1) The first component, National Capacity Building and Awareness Raising, will support capacity building and awareness raising activities for forest-dependent Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and their representative organizations and networks in the eleven participating countries, with specific focus on women and youth. It has two sub-components as follows: (a) the first sub-component, Implementation of capacity building and awareness raising activities, will determine which new studies, analytical reports and learning materials need to be produced for the use of IP organizations/networks to deliver key messages, and these will be developed in simple formats and relevant languages by Mainyoito Pastoralists Integrated Development Organization (MPIDO) and or hired consultants, as appropriate; (b) the second sub-component, Support and empowerment of IP organizations and networks, will finance activities that strengthen the capacities of select national IP organizations and networks to participate in the implementation of REDD Readiness actions. 2) The second component, Regional Exchange and Sharing of Lessons Learned, will focus on the design and implementation of a robust regional platform for information exchange and knowledge sharing between forest-dependent IP organizations and networks in all eighteen Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) member countries. It has two sub components as follows: (a) the first sub-component, Regional learning and exchange, will convene two regional workshops at inception and toward completion; (b) the second sub-component, Dissemination of knowledge products and lessons learned, will fund the development and dissemination of existing and new REDD educational and knowledge products, and communication of lessons learned or good practices from Component 1 to the wider IP audience in FCPF countries (in Africa and elsewhere). The third component, Management, M&E and Reporting, will finance the overhead costs of the MPIDO team that will manage the project during the 18 month project duration. Project management includes procurement, financial management, environmental and social safeguard compliance assurance, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) and reporting, and preparation of annual work plans and budgets acceptable to the World Bank.
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