Publication: Business Registration Reform Case Studies: Bulgaria
Loading...
Published
2009-06
ISSN
Date
2017-08-29
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
This case study focuses on the attempts of the government of Bulgaria (GoB) to promote and implement reform of the business registration system to better suit the new economic framework that emerged in the country following the collapse of communist rule. The uniqueness of the Bulgarian case is that there were two distinct stages of business registration reforms, which marked two separate periods in the sociopolitical development of Bulgaria: the transformation from planned to market economy and the accession of the country to the European Union (EU). This collection of case studies describes experiences and draws lessons from varied business registration reform programs in economies in vastly different stages of development: Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Madagascar, and Malaysia. The case studies were written based on a desk study of reforms in each country discussed. Then, more detailed information was gathered by field-based researchers. In some cases, detail on the business registration process that was in place prior to implementation of reforms was unavailable. As such, data on the number of businesses registered and the time required to completed registration before and after the reforms cannot be compared and contrasted. The partial success of the reform during the first year was a consequence of problems in four areas: lack of legislative will, insufficient financial support, inappropriate organizational structure of the new business registration agency, and weak human resource management. All of these problems delayed progress and had negative effects on the registration agency and the business community.
Link to Data Set
Citation
“Cristow, Dobromir. 2009. Business Registration Reform Case Studies: Bulgaria. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/28069 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
Digital Object Identifier
Associated URLs
Associated content
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue
Collections
Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
Publication Outsourcing of Business Registration Activities(Washington, DC, 2010)In the private sector, outsourcing has become a recognized feature of the business scene. While there are various reasons for contracting out functions to external organizations, in general the justification relates to the potential cost-benefit from adopting this approach. This study set out to ascertain whether the same considerations applied to administrative procedures associated with starting a business. Did business registries outsource any or all of their functions? If so, did the same considerations apply as for the private sector? Were there lessons to be learned from their experience? Responses to these and other questions were received from 53 registries. This paper is not about global commerce, at least, not in the usual sense. It is about some of the more mundane administrative procedures that underpin the activities of the private sector, the basics that help it to function. Business registration is seen as a key factor in determining the investment climate of a country.Publication Getting Down to Business : Strengthening Economies through Business Registration Reforms(International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, 2013-12)Business registration remains a complicated and costly process in many countries, hampering entrepreneurial activity and the creation of formal employment. In Bolivia and Uganda, for example, entrepreneurs need to complete 15 procedures to incorporate a limited liability company. In the Gambia and Djibouti, the cost of incorporation is about 180 percent of per capita income, and the average time needed to start up a business in São Paulo, Brazil, is more than 100 days. Rampant bureaucracy and systemic inefficiencies should not pose obstacles for business development and growth. Several research studies find that simpler business start-up processes are associated with higher rates of formal entrepreneurship, lesser development of shadow economies, increased tax revenues, and decreased corruption. It is clear that easy and straightforward business incorporation practices have multiple spillover benefits for the entire economy.Publication Business Registration Reform Case Studies(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2009-06)This collection of case studies describes experiences and draws lessons from varied business registration reform programs in economies in vastly different stages of development: Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Madagascar, and Malaysia. Over the last twenty years, a number of countries have recognized the importance of smooth and efficient business start up procedures. A functioning business registration system is now viewed as an important regulatory requirement of any economy, and a predictable, transparent, and modern business registration system is acknowledged to help promote private sector growth and job generation. Business registration gives businesses formal status and formal operation in the marketplace. It is a dynamic process that impacts the life of its stakeholders, commercial counterparties, and employees by introducing new responsibilities, opportunities, and challenges.Publication Doing Business Economy Profile 2015 : India(Washington, DC, 2014-10-01)This economy profile for Doing Business 2015 presents the 11 Doing Business indicators for India. To allow for useful comparison, the profile also provides data for other selected economies (comparator economies) for each indicator. Doing Business 2015 is the 12th edition in a series of annual reports measuring the regulations that enhance business activity and those that constrain it. Economies are ranked on their ease of doing business; for 2015 India ranks 142. A high ease of doing business ranking means the regulatory environment is more conducive to the starting and operation of a local firm. Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 189 economies from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe and over time. Doing Business measures regulations affecting 11 areas of the life of a business known as indicators. Ten of these areas are included in this year's ranking on the ease of doing business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting minority investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts, and resolving insolvency. Doing Business also measures labor market regulation, which is not included in this year's ranking. The data in this report are current as of June 1, 2014 (except for the paying taxes indicators, which cover the period from January to December 2013).Publication Reforming Business Registration : A Toolkit for the Practitioners(Washington, DC, 2013-01)The private sector, through investment and job creation, plays a crucial role in a country's fight against poverty. Where an effective private sector is lacking, business registration reform has been shown to be one of the essential first steps toward fostering private-sector growth. The easier, faster, and cheaper the business registration process becomes, the higher the number of businesses in an economy. A number of recent studies have found that simpler registration processes translate into advantages for workers and employers, including greater employment opportunities, more productive jobs, and higher total factor productivity. In addition, society as a whole benefits from registration reform. Business registration reform also has the potential to reduce both informality and gender disparity in entrepreneurship. This toolkit provides a systematic analysis of various reform options and is meant to serve as a guide for policy makers and practitioners implementing business registration reform. The toolkit thus displays the fundamentals of international good practice that can be adapted to specific country contexts in a coherent, consistent, and sustainable way.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
Publication Digital Africa(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2023-03-13)All African countries need better and more jobs for their growing populations. "Digital Africa: Technological Transformation for Jobs" shows that broader use of productivity-enhancing, digital technologies by enterprises and households is imperative to generate such jobs, including for lower-skilled people. At the same time, it can support not only countries’ short-term objective of postpandemic economic recovery but also their vision of economic transformation with more inclusive growth. These outcomes are not automatic, however. Mobile internet availability has increased throughout the continent in recent years, but Africa’s uptake gap is the highest in the world. Areas with at least 3G mobile internet service now cover 84 percent of Africa’s population, but only 22 percent uses such services. And the average African business lags in the use of smartphones and computers as well as more sophisticated digital technologies that catalyze further productivity gains. Two issues explain the usage gap: affordability of these new technologies and willingness to use them. For the 40 percent of Africans below the extreme poverty line, mobile data plans alone would cost one-third of their incomes—in addition to the price of access devices, apps, and electricity. Data plans for small- and medium-size businesses are also more expensive than in other regions. Moreover, shortcomings in the quality of internet services—and in the supply of attractive, skills-appropriate apps that promote entrepreneurship and raise earnings—dampen people’s willingness to use them. For those countries already using these technologies, the development payoffs are significant. New empirical studies for this report add to the rapidly growing evidence that mobile internet availability directly raises enterprise productivity, increases jobs, and reduces poverty throughout Africa. To realize these and other benefits more widely, Africa’s countries must implement complementary and mutually reinforcing policies to strengthen both consumers’ ability to pay and willingness to use digital technologies. These interventions must prioritize productive use to generate large numbers of inclusive jobs in a region poised to benefit from a massive, youthful workforce—one projected to become the world’s largest by the end of this century.Publication Lifting Economic Sanctions on Iran(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2016-02)This paper uses a global general equilibrium simulation model to quantify the effects of lifting economic sanctions on Iran with and without strategic responses. Iran benefits the most, with average per capita welfare gains ranging from close to 3 percent, in the case when Iran's crude oil exports to the European Union recover to half their pre-embargo level, to 6.5 percent, in the best case of complete recovery of oil exports to the European Union, successful domestic reforms that enable a strong supply response, and increased market access for Iranian exports in developed markets. Iran could achieve benefits close to the upper range if Gulf Cooperation Council oil exporters limit their crude oil exports to support the oil price. If they do nothing, however, the price of oil will decline by 13 percent in the case of complete recovery of oil exports to the European Union, leaving net oil importers better off and net oil exporters worse off.Publication Parenting Education in Indonesia(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2015-07-08)There is a dynamic and growing energy in Indonesia focusing on parenting education, particularly for low-SES families. However, little is known about parenting styles and related outcomes, much less the coverage and effectiveness of various parenting education approaches. In 2013, the Government of Indonesia commissioned the World Bank to review existing programs and make recommendations to strengthen its parenting education system. This report synthesizes international research while providing detailed information on the seven agencies currently providing parenting education programs in Indonesia, collected from interviews, reports, and data presentations in 2013 and early 2014. Four government ministries and three non-governmental organizations currently offer programming: Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and Culture, Ministry of Social Affairs, Family Planning Board, Plan, Save the Children, and World Vision. The report notes the commonalities in current program structures and approaches, then articulates recommendations to create a more cohesive and effective system with adequate coverage. In terms of content, authors recommend that providers choose a narrow and meaningful set of messages for respective programs, and enhance content for particularly vulnerable families, such as those with children with disabilities or dealing with chronic illness, natural disaster, conflict, and so forth. To strengthen program design and delivery, eight recommendations emerge, such as articulating measurable goals, ensuring active learning, encourage in-session practice, improving training and compensation for facilitators, and increasing the use of technology. The report includes a matrix of short-term (1-2 years) and medium-term (3-5 years) steps to build a coordinated system of parenting education that involves four areas of action: (1) create the framework; (2) develop an enabling environment; (3) conduct the research; and (4) implement and refine programming. Steps are both simultaneous and sequential and should lead to increased coverage and quality of programs within 5 years.Publication Global Economic Prospects, January 2024(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2024-01-09)Note: Chart 1.2.B has been updated on January 18, 2024. Chart 2.2.3 B has been updated on January 14, 2024. Global growth is expected to slow further this year, reflecting the lagged and ongoing effects of tight monetary policy to rein in inflation, restrictive credit conditions, and anemic global trade and investment. Downside risks include an escalation of the recent conflict in the Middle East, financial stress, persistent inflation, weaker-than-expected activity in China, trade fragmentation, and climate-related disasters. Against this backdrop, policy makers face enormous challenges. In emerging market and developing economies (EMDEs), commodity exporters face the enduring challenges posed by fiscal policy procyclicality and volatility, which highlight the need for robust fiscal frameworks. Across EMDEs, previous episodes of investment growth acceleration underscore the critical importance of macroeconomic and structural policies and an enabling institutional environment in bolstering investment and long-term growth. At the global level, cooperation needs to be strengthened to provide debt relief, facilitate trade integration, tackle climate change, and alleviate food insecurity.Publication Informal Sector Dynamics in Times of Fragile Growth(World Bank, Washington, DC, 2011-09)This paper investigates the dynamics of the informal sector in Madagascar during a period of fragile growth. Overall, the behavior of informal firms in terms of earnings, employment and capital accumulation points to a degree of heterogeneity which goes beyond a simple dualistic model and even a more refined model that would distinguish between an upper entrepreneurial and a lower subsistence tier within the informal sector. However, in line with the dualistic model, the informal sector indeed fulfills a labor absorbing function in times of crisis. During the growth period authors see capital accumulation in most of the sectors and lots of evidence that households expand their activities. However, this happens mainly through the creation of new firms instead of the expansion of existing ones, which is consistent with much higher returns at very low levels of capital. More rapid expansion can be observed in sectors that operate with lower capital intensity, which is also consistent with risk or credit constraints as major deterrents to expansion. While there is some indication that total factor productivity increased over time, returns to capital and labor where not higher at the end of the observation period than at the beginning. Returns are also rather low at high levels of capital. These findings point to a limited growth potential of the informal sector as a whole. The heterogeneity in capital returns hints at large inefficiencies in allocating capital across informal firms.