Globalization has increased competitive pressures on firms. Together with rapid technological change, it has altered the environment in which firms operate. While globalization offers unprecedented opportunities for firms to act successfully, it simultaneously heightens the risks for firms...

The analysis of firm-level data collected through parallel international enterprise surveys can reveal important linkages between governance constraints and business growth and investment. The World Business Environment Survey (WBES), an initiative led by the World Bank Group in 1999 and 2000,...

This book explores the short- to medium-term corporate governance issues that China is encountering during the course of corporation and ownership transformation of its enterprise sector. The study looks at companies participating in the two main forms of ownership diversification: listed...

This Toolkit aims to help developing country governments, interested in using private firms to help expand access to safe water and sanitation services at reasonable cost. Specifically, it aims to help them, and their advisers design arrangements that maximize the benefits for their countries,...

The state of national labor markets has always been a concern for governments and development agencies such as the World Bank. Key labor market indicators, such as the rate of unemployment, send signals about the health of an economy and mirror citizens' attitudes. Being gainfully employed is an...

The global economic crisis has opened an uncertain chapter, especially for the 2.5 billion people who live on less than $2 a day. Many of them lack access to electricity, or clean water, or basic health care. For at least a decade, economic growth in developing countries helped expand the...

The International Finance Corporation is at the forefront of private sector development: it is redefining how poverty can be reduced and lives improved through a stronger private sector in emerging markets. Accomplishing this goal means reaching people, regions, and sectors that have not yet...

Enterprise Size, Financing Patterns, and Credit Constraints in Brazil investigates the importance of firm size with respect to accessing credit. The principal findings are that size strongly affects access to credit compared to firm performance, and other factors, such as management education,...