Trade and investment flows into less advanced economies could bring about important technological spillovers that could boost firm-level productivity and bolster their long term economic growth. This brief paper outlines some of the motivations for public sector interventions to support learning...

Competition has two possible contrasting effects on firm innovation. On one hand, competition can force SMEs to innovate to become more competitive. On the other hand, competition can shrink SME’s market share, revenues, and profit, making it difficult to implement financial-capital-intensive...

Fear of crime, on top of being victimized by crime itself, is an important social concern because the literature suggests that it can affect behavior and decision-making. Some studies argue that negative emotions can induce present consumption; thus one behavior that crime can potentially...

The Philippines' IT-BPO sector has grown steadily since its initial boom at the beginning of the 21st century. Sector revenue reached USD 22 billion in 2015 and is expected to overtake OFW remittances in 2017. In 2015, IT-BPO accounted for 7.3 percent of Philippine GDP and employed 1.2 million...

The Philippines is now one of the best-performing economies in the world. The country's macroeconomic environment is characterized by strong growth, low and stable inflation, a steady fiscal position, healthy current account surpluses, strong foreign direct investment, and abundant international...

Decentralization is a popular component of public sector reform in many developing countries. Local governments are thought to be able to adapt more quickly to local conditions and to respond more appropriately to the needs of their citizens. However, decentralization also has drawbacks....

The paper studied the factors affecting SME competitiveness in terms of their capacity to access, link, and upgrade as well as entrepreneurial characteristics and the business environment.Using a survey of 480 randomly selected SMEs in Metro Manila, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, and Quezon,...

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected major industries, resulting in the transformation of the business landscape, and small businesses have taken a particularly severe impact. Whenever crises occur, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) tend to be more vulnerable than large...