Firm-level survey data on registered private firms reveal that firms in Malaysia have much lower labor productivity than their counterparts in 43 upper-middle-income and 14 high-income countries.
... Exibir mais + It will be difficult for Malaysia to achieve the high-income status without a significant improvement in labor productivity of the private sector firms. The lower productivity of Malaysian firms is pervasive and holds across sectors and firm-sizes. Drivers of productivity such as outward orientation of the firms, innovation, training of workers and top manager’s experience are all lagging in Malaysia compared to the high-income and upper-middle-income groups. Malaysia does outperform in terms of low regulatory burden on the firms and better quality of power supply. However, corruption and crime are worse in Malaysia than in the high-income and even upper-middle-income countries.
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Recent firm-level survey data collected by the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys (ES) shows that about a quarter of all Malaysian firms have a female top manager.
... Exibir mais + Female top managers are more likely to be found in large firms than in small firms, in the retail sector versus the rest of the economy, and in exporting than in non-exporting firms. In contrast to what the literature might suggest, in Malaysia, firms with a female top manager have higher labor productivity on average than firms with a male top manager. However, the business environment, along several important dimensions such as the regulatory burden, corruption, and the crime and security environment, is more difficult for firms with female top managers.
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This note analyzes various issues related to women workers in Malaysia’s formal private sector. Using the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys data, the proportion of women among all workers in Malaysia is on par with other upper middle-income group economies, but less than the regional average.
... Exibir mais + In Malaysia, the number of women among all workers varies with the firm’s size, sector, management characteristics and if training is provided to workers by the firm. Firms in Malaysia seem to lag behind firms in other countries in terms of how friendly some of the labor laws are to women workers. Suitable reforms of these laws can potentially increase women’s employment in Malaysia’s formal private sector.
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Taking advantage of recent Enterprise Surveys data, this note aims to provide a first set of observations on the performance and regulatory constraints of Malaysia’s exporting firms.
... Exibir mais + The findings provide some interesting insights. Manufacturing firms in Malaysia export a lower share of their sales than in other countries. This is because exporting firms are less likely to be large businesses, adversely affecting export volumes. In addition, Malaysian exporters consider an unreliable power supply as a much greater obstacle to operations, compared to non-exporter firms. Large and high-tech exporters of Malaysia are more productive than other exporters and non-exporters of Malaysia, although they are less productive than their counterparts in most of the comparator economies. In addition, consistent with the existing research, large and high-tech exporters in Malaysia are more likely to invest in research and development and introduce process or organizational innovation than other firms in Malaysia and in comparator economies, except Sweden. In light of the findings presented here and in other studies, promoting large and high-tech firms in the export sector may improve Malaysia’s trade volumes, productivity and innovation.
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This note explores the role of legal institutions in influencing women’s employment in private firms in developing countries. Both a holistic and specific approach to legal institutions is adopted.
... Exibir mais + Regarding the former, the relationship between the overall number of gender-based legal disparities on employment is documented. With regards to the latter, specific aspects are considered such as mandating laws prohibiting discrimination along gender lines in hiring practices, legal provisions of maternity leave that guarantee women an equivalent position to the one held earlier upon return from maternity leave, and legal provisions of paternity leave. The findings suggest that the legal environment matters, and laws that are more favorable towards women are associated with a sharp increase in their job prospects.
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Using survey data on informal firms in Myanmar, a number of issues related to firm-size,productivity, business environment, gender disparity and registration costs and benefits arediscussed.
... Exibir mais + The findings suggest that informal firms in Myanmar are less productive thanformal sector firms but compare favorably with informal firms elsewhere. The education level of themanager is positively correlated with firm productivity but firm-size is not. Access to finance is the most commonly chosen top obstacle, especially by the relatively smaller firms. Few firms find any benefits from registration and particularly so in the relatively smaller cities outside Yangon.
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The Enterprise Surveys (ES) focus on many aspects of the business environment. These factors can be accommodating or constraining for firms and play an important role in whether an economy’s private sector will thrive or not.
... Exibir mais + An accommodating business environment is one that encourages firms to operate efficiently. Such conditions strengthen incentives for firms to innovate and to increase productivity — key factors for sustainable development. A more productive private sector, in turn, expands employment and contributes taxes necessary for public investment in health, education, and other services. Questions contained in the ES aim at covering most of the topics mentioned above. The topics include infrastructure, trade, finance, regulations, taxes and business licensing, corruption, crime and informality, access to finance, innovation, labor, and perceptions about obstacles to doing business. The ES are conducted by the World Bank Group and its partners across all geographic regions and cover small, medium, and large firms. The surveys are administered to a representative sample of firms in the non-agricultural, formal, private economy. The ES are repeated approximately every four years for a particular economy (or region). By tracking changes in the business environment, policymakers and researchers can look at the effects of policy and regulatory reforms on firm performance. This document summarizes the results of the Enterprise Survey for Papua New Guinea.
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The Enterprise Surveys (ES) focus on many aspects of the business environment. These factors can be accommodating or constraining for firms and play an important role in whether an economy’s private sector will thrive or not.
... Exibir mais + An accommodating business environment is one that encourages firms to operate efficiently. Such conditions strengthen incentives for firms to innovate and to increase productivity — key factors for sustainable development. A more productive private sector, in turn, expands employment and contributes taxes necessary for public investment in health, education, and other services. Questions contained in the ES aim at covering most of the topics mentioned above. The topics include infrastructure, trade, finance, regulations, taxes and business licensing, corruption, crime and informality, access to finance, innovation, labor, and perceptions about obstacles to doing business.The ES are conducted by the World Bank Group and its partners across all geographic regions and cover small, medium, and large firms. The surveys are administered to a representative sample1 of firms in the non-agricultural, formal, private economy.The ES are repeated approximately every four years for a particular economy (or region). By tracking changes in the business environment, policymakers and researchers can look at the effects of policy and regulatory reforms on firm performance. This document summarizes the results of the Enterprise Survey for Malaysia.
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The Enterprise Surveys (ES) focus on many aspects of the business environment. These factors can be accommodating or constraining for firms and play an important role in whether an economy’s private sector will thrive or not.
... Exibir mais + An accommodating business environment is one that encourages firms to operate efficiently. Such conditions strengthen incentives for firms to innovate and to increase productivity — key factors for sustainable development. A more productive private sector, in turn, expands employment and contributes taxes necessary for public investment in health, education, and other services. Questions contained in the ES aim at covering most of the topics mentioned above. The topics include infrastructure, trade, finance, regulations, taxes and business licensing, corruption, crime and informality, access to finance, innovation, labor, and perceptions about obstacles to doing business. The ES are conducted by the World Bank Group and its partners across all geographic regions and cover small, medium, and large firms.The surveys are administered to a representative sample of firms in the non-agricultural, formal, private economy. The ES are repeated approximately every four years for a particular economy (or region). By tracking changes in the business environment, policymakers and researchers can look at the effects of policy and regulatory reforms on firm performance. This document summarizes the results of the Enterprise Survey for the Philippines.
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The presence of female top managers in the private sector signals the existence of high paying jobs for women and also serves as further encouragement for other women to seek better employment.
... Exibir mais + This note looks at the proportion of female top managers in private firms in 86 developing countries and its relationship with factors including country income level, gender disparity in education, firm-size, etc. The average proportion of top female managers is quite low at about 19 percent. This appears to be driven in part by gender disparity in education level and the lack of female managers in relatively large firms.
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Newly available data on informal firms in 11 African countries shows that informal firms while generally small can vary substantially in size. Using these data, this note explores the relevance of firm-size among informal firms.
... Exibir mais + Data show that firm-size is important in the informal sector. For example, compared with the relatively small informal firms, large informal firms are less productive, have more educated owners, show a greater willingness to formalize or register, and are more likely to use banks and microfinance institutions to finance their day-to-day operations. Hence, policies aimed at the informal sector can benefit from distinguishing between small and large informal firms.
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This note compares business environment perceptions using a unique panel data set of Afghani and Pakistani firms interviewed between 2007 and 2010.
... Exibir mais + Examining the evolution of business climate perceptions within the same group of firms over time allows for a clear picture of how the broad business environment is changing. Firms in both countries are operating in a time of dynamic economic, political, and social changes. However, perceptions of the severity and challenges posed by certain business environment elements differ in the two countries. The World Bank's enterprise analysis unit surveyed the same group of 319 Afghani firms in 2008 and 2010, as well as a group of 385 Pakistani firms in 2007 and 2010. Survey results show that firm perceptions of the severity and priority of certain business environment elements have changed over time, especially in the areas of electricity, political instability, and corruption.
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Brazilian firms are more integrated into their country's financial system than other firms in the rest of the Latin American region Brazil has the highest proportion of firms who finance investment using banks and the highest proportion of firms with savings and checking account.
... Exibir mais + Compared to the region, Brazilian firms highly utilize their own web sites and have the second highest prevalence of internationally recognized quality certification in the region. However, Brazilian firms face a greater burden of regulation than firms in most other countries of the region and this burden has increased over the last few years. Crime is also a major biding constraint for Brazilian firms and firms are less open to international trade than the average for Latin America.
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New enterprise surveys data indicate that firms in Kazakhstan are more likely to face corruption and are less integrated in global trade when compared to the rest of the countries in the Easter Europe and Central Asia region (ECA).
... Exibir mais + The duration of power outages is high relative to the ECA region, and Kazakhstan businesses report large losses due to crime. However, the amount of senior management time spent dealing with government regulation is notable low compared to other ECA countries, and the share of financing by Banks in firm investment has risen over time.
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Recently obtained enterprise surveys data indicate that senior managers in Indonesia spend the least amount of time dealing with the requirements of government regulations when compared to countries in the same income and size groups.
... Exibir mais + However, Indonesian firms perform poorly in international trade and in the use of technology. Only 4 percent of firms are exporters. This is lower than the average in countries with similar income levels, 11 percent, and population sizes, 17 percent. Similarly, Indonesian firms report a lower share of sales exported and fewer firms use imported materials and goods. This finding could be the result of firm composition in the country, 77 percent of firms have less than 10 employees and these firms are much less likely to engage in foreign trade. Indonesian firms are also much less likely than their international peers to use their own Web site or to use e-mail. Across the firms in Indonesia, exporting and foreign-owned firms have more visits or meetings with tax officials, and the managers of these firms spend a larger share of their time dealing with government regulations.
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New data from enterprise surveys indicate that business regulation reforms in the Kyrgyz Republic, such as simplifying tax payment procedures, are positively impacting the private sector.
... Exibir mais + Firms interviewed in 2005 and 2009 report significantly lower incidences of tax related bribes when required to meet with tax officials. Nevertheless, firms continue to face obstacles such as corruption, inadequate provision of electricity, and limited access to finance. Small firms in particular are more credit-constrained compared to larger firms. The Kyrgyz Republic lags far behind the region regarding technology innovation measures. The Kyrgyz Republic is second to bottom in capacity utilization (58 percent); only Georgia is lower (50 percent). The percentage of firms using e-mail to communicate with clients and suppliers and the percentage of firms using their own web site are some of the smallest in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region. Finally, the Kyrgyz Republic leads ECA countries in female participation in ownership.
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This note highlights differences between informal businesses in two regions of Argentina Buenos Aires and Chaco. Labor productivity is much higher in Buenos Aires than Chaco.
... Exibir mais + This difference is partly due to higher sales and partly due to lower employment in firms in Buenos Aires. Relative to Buenos Aires, firms in the Chaco region are more likely to use machinery and vehicles in the production process and they also face larger seasonal fluctuations in sales. Firms are more likely to report various benefits from registering including better access to finance, markets and government subsidies, less bribes to pay and being able to issue receipts in Chaco than in Buenos Aires. Important firm-characteristics, such as the level of education of the owner of the firm, and the perception of corruption and crime as obstacles to business, also differ sharply across the two regions. These findings suggest a greater need to design policies towards the informal sector at the local level rather than at the national level.
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Recently collected data on informal or unregistered firms in Argentina and Peru show significant differences between male- and female-owned firms.
... Exibir mais + Compared with male-owned firms, female-owned firms are smaller in size, have lower labor productivity and are less likely to use equipment such as machinery and vehicles. Some of the commonly held perceptions, such as lower education among women entrepreneurs, fewer numbers of owners among firms that have a female as the largest shareholder and greater difficulty faced by women in accessing credit, are only weakly supported in the data. However, as documented in the literature, women managers have fewer years of experience in running a business and they are also more likely to operate from inside than outside the household premises in order to take advantage of better working hours and location. Some gender-based differences in the willingness to register and the potential costs of registering are also observed in the data.
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A recent survey of unregistered or informal firms in Argentina and Peru shows that about 74 percent of the owners have a secondary or higher education.
... Exibir mais + This note compared firms by the education level of the owners to assess how education affects the structure, conduct and performance of informal firms. The results show a limited impact of education. Firms-efficiency as measures by sales per worker rises sharply with the level of education of the owner and the same holds for firm-size as measure by motherly sales or employment. Firms with relatively more educated owners are more likely to use external sources of finance, cell phones and in some cases show greater inclination to register, work on contract basis and maintain business accounts separate form household accounts. However, in other dimensions such as the use of machinery and vehicles there is no significant difference between firms by the education level of the owner of the firm.
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New data from enterprise surveys indicate that Vietnamese firms have several comparative advantages over firms in other similarly populated countries and countries in the same income group.
... Exibir mais + Senior manager's reports spend only 5 percent of their time dealing with the requirements of government regulation, much lower than Vietnam's peer countries. In addition, firms experience few power outages, fewer losses due to crime, and firms rank corruption as a relatively minor obstacle. However, one-fourth of Vietnamese firms ranked access to finance as the biggest business environment obstacle when presented with a list of 15 obstacles. Specifically, firms report high collateral requirements, 218 percent relative to the loan amount. Among similarly populated countries, only firms in the Philippines report a higher percentage. The Vietnamese economy is well integrated in global trade. Relative to similar economies, a high proportion of firms in Vietnam are exporters, and Vietnamese firms use a comparatively high proportion of foreign inputs as well. Compared to its peer countries, Vietnamese firms are younger, especially in the retail sector. Vietnamese firms are on average larger, and also employ proportionally more women and have more female top managers compared to similarly populated countries in the same income group.
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