Making It Big : Why Developing Countries Need More Large Firms

Front Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- Executive Summary -- 12 Empirical Highlights -- Abbreviations -- Introduction Firms do not all serve the same purpose -- Firms do not all serve the same purpose -- How large is large? -- Note -- References -- 1. Large firms make distinct contributions to development -- Firm size is associated with productivity -- Size is a proxy for a package of characteristics and strategies -- Scale is associated with different returns to workers -- Macroeconomic outcomes are influenced by large-firm activity -- Notes -- References -- 2. The "missing top" -- Lower-income countries tend to have smaller firms -- The gap is in the larger among large firms -- Is there a "missing top"? -- Notes -- References -- 3. Large-firm creation: Origins and growth paths -- What do we know about the origins of large firms? -- Cross-country information on firm creation -- Origin of large firms -- Growth paths of large firms -- Notes -- References -- 4. Supporting large-firm creation -- What types of constraints give rise to the "missing top"? -- How to foster large-firm creation? -- Technology changes large-firm creation, growth, and impact -- What are the options for low-income countries? -- Case study -- Large-firm creation in Guinea: Past, present, and future -- The role of development finance institutions -- Notes -- References -- Appendixes -- Appendix A: Methodology for large-firm premiums -- Appendix B: The OECD Orbis database -- Appendix C: Why is the large-firm wage premium higher in lower-income countries? -- Appendix D: Outliers of the firm distribution -- Appendix E: IFC client data -- Appendix F: Origin and growth path results -- Appendix G: Sample for the growth path analysis -- Appendix H: Growth paths for France -- Boxes -- Box 1.1 Comparability of data on establishments versus firms.