Private Sector Development, Privatization, and Industrial Policy

96 items available

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http://hdl.handle.net/10986/2162

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Creating Markets in Albania: Taking Advantage of New Trade and Investment Opportunities for a More Robust Private Sector - Country Private Sector Diagnostic

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2022-06) International Finance Corporation

Despite a challenging transition period and a string of adverse shocks, in recent decades Albania has made major strides in raising per capita income and integrating into the world economy. A dynamic private sector has become the engine of Albania’s economic development, and its increasing role continues to offer opportunities for expanding the country’s economic base and promoting faster and more diversified export-oriented growth. Albania is endowed with considerable economic assets, including a strategic geographical position, exceptional natural beauty, and abundant renewable and nonrenewable resources. A politically stable environment, improving governance indicators, and a record of dependable macroeconomic policies have supported the process of European Union (EU) accession, which offers a wide array of opportunities for the development of the Albanian private sector. Because a small domestic labor pool and consumer market limit the potential for economies of scale, sustaining Albania’s economic expansion will require intensifying its integration with the global economy. Despite decades of progress, Albania continues to face serious structural and policy challenges. The country’s economic expansion has not been matched by commensurate improvements in productivity. In this context, the World Bank Group has prepared the following country private sector diagnostic (CPSD) to assist the authorities in their efforts to leverage Albania’s geographic location, natural assets, and improved institutional and policy framework to promote diversification, competitiveness, and robust private-sector-led growth. The analysis highlights the importance of improving the business environment while stepping up investments in technology and innovation. The report explores three critical sectors for accelerating and diversifying growth: agribusiness and food processing, tourism, and automotive manufacturing.
Paths of Productivity Growth in Poland: A Firm-Level Perspective

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-10-31) World Bank

After a long period of economic transformation that included introducing a series of market-oriented reforms and joining the European Union (EU), Poland was one of the fastest-growing economies in the world by 2020. This report investigates differences in productivity dynamics across economic segments and attempts to derive policy recommendations to improve the Polish economy’s productivity performance. First, the authors estimate firm-level total factor productivity (TFP), compute labor productivity indices, and analyze the main productivity patterns between 2009 and 2019. Second, the authors decompose aggregate productivity performance into the within, between, and net entry components using the Melitz Polanec decomposition method to understand the underlying response behind the observed productivity growth in Polish sectors and industries. The efficiency of resource allocation (measured by the between effect) worsened over time in manufacturing and was responsible for the sector’s productivity slowdown while allocative efficiency gains improved productivity performance in construction and services. To boost Polish productivity, the empirical evidence provided in the report indicates certain areas for policy actions as well as a few directions for necessary further investigation.
Reforming Business Registration in Greece: A Case Study

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2021-09-13) Conserva, Nicolas ; Zanelli, Alessio ; Muco, Sagita

This case study explores the reforms of the business registration process implemented in Greece since 2005. It identifies lessons that can be valuable for public servants and policymakers in other countries, especially those who are considering reforming their business registration systems. The case study can also be useful to Greek policymakers and practitioners as they reform other areas of the business environment. In 2004, Greek entrepreneurs had to complete several procedures and go through a burdensome court-based process to register a business. Research suggests that streamlining business registration has the potential to support entrepreneurship, encourage the creation of new firms, and reduce informality, but of course needs to be considered in the backdrop of the broader business climate. From this perspective, establishing one-stop shops facilitates the registration of firms, which may be deterred by complex entry regulations.
Creating Markets in the Kyrgyz Republic: Unleashing the Private Sector to Rebuild Development Success - Country Private Sector Diagnostic

(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2021-05) International Finance Corporation

This country private sector diagnostic (CPSD) for the Kyrgyz Republic assesses the barriers and opportunities for a more forceful development of the private sector in the country. Between 2000 and 2019, gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate averaged 4.4 percent, enabling the Kyrgyz Republic’s ascension to lower-middle-income country status by 2014. Economic growth has been unstable as its sources lacked diversity and were vulnerable to external shocks. Economic growth has been unstable as its sources lacked diversity and were vulnerable to external shocks. If the Kyrgyz Republic wants to inaugurate a new era of faster, more sustainable economic growth, it must more aggressively develop its private sector to support economic diversification and improve productivity.
Can Venture Capital and Private Equity Work for You? Six Simple Steps to Guide SMEs in the Western Balkans

(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2020-04-02) Bacaj, Zana ; Hirata Barros, Ana Cristina

Access to finance is ranked as one of the constraints on businesses in the Western Balkans region (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). Across the region, up to 99 percent of enterprises are small or medium-sized (SMEs). SMEs are a primary source of economic growth, innovation, and most importantly, job creation in the region. To attract funding from investors and grow their businesses successfully entrepreneurs need the necessary skills to become investment ready. However, in the Western Balkans, entrepreneurs lack investment readiness for different reasons, including lack of knowledge about the availability of external sources of finance; hesitation to surrender partial ownership and control of their business; and lack of knowledge of how to sell their ideas to potential investors. This guide is targeted at SME owners and managers of SMEs in the Western Balkans who are interested in developing their businesses and are considering whether venture capital (VC) and private equity (PE) could be an option.