Obstacles to developing small and medium-sized enterprises : an empirical assessment

The purpose of this paper is to report the results of micro-level field research conducted in late 1989 and early 1990 of constraints confronting small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Sri Lanka and Tanzania, and to analyze the implications of these results for reforms to promote the development of an efficient indigenous private sector in LDCs. In doing so, an effort will be made to lay out the empirical methodology in sufficient detail to facilitate parallel studies in other countries where there might be some interest in assessing obstacles to SME development.