Do Institutions, Ownership, Exporting andCompetition Explain Firm Performance?Evidence from 26 Transition Countries

We analyze a large stratified random sample of firms that provide us with measures ofperformance and each firm’s top manager’s perception of the severity of businessenvironment constraints faced by his/her firm. Unlike most existing studies that rely onexternal and aggregated proxy measures of the business environment, defined to includelegal and institutional features, we have information from each surveyed firm. Specifically, weuse the 2005 and 2002 Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS)to assess the effect on performance of ownership, competition, export orientation and thebusiness environment of the firm...