The privatization of infrastructure companies is expected to bring about gains for customers by increasing the efficiency of the privatized company. Because many infrastructure industries are not competitive, attention has focused on the development of regulatory regimes that replicate the...

Vietnam's young private sector is growing fast. Crucial to this growth has been a policy environment that increasingly recognizes the importance of private entrepreneurship-particularly its potential to help address the country¹s pressing need for significantly increased wage employment...

The authors evaluate the role of dynamic small and medium-size manufacturing enterprises and entrepreneurs (SMEs) in Colombia's development. They also evaluate SME policy in Colombia, especially as it affects the country's export potential. The SME sector has received little attention from...

The authors explore the relationship between the relative size of the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector, economic growth, and poverty using a new database on the share of SME labor in the total manufacturing labor force. Using a sample of 76 countries, they find a strong association...

The author examines the effect of product and geographic diversification on firm value for a sample of 1,914 corporations in 18 countries. His results indicate that both product and geographic diversification destroy value at high levels of diversification, suggesting that agency and influence...

Using firm-level data from 52 countries, the authors investigate how a country's institutions and business environment affect firms'organizational choices and the effects of organizational form on access to finance and growth. They find that businesses are more likely to choose the corporate...

The authors identify the ultimate ownership structure for 2,980 corporations in nine East Asian countries. They find that: A) More than half of those firms are controlled be a single shareholder. B) Smaller firms and older firms are more likely to be family-controlled. C) Patterns of controlling...

The East Asian financial crisis has been attributed in part to the corporate diversification associated with the misallocation of capital investment toward less profitable and more risky business segments. Much anecdotal evidence to support this view has surfaced since the crisis but there was...

What is the impact of firms that cross-list, issue depositary receipts, or raise capital in international stock markets on the liquidity of remaining firms in domestic markets? Using a panel of over 3,200 firms from 55 countries during 1989-2000, Levine and Schmukler find that...

The Slovenian transition represents a slow, but steady liberalization of constraints on competition. Using a unique longitudinal data set on all manufacturing firms in Slovenia over the period 1994-2001, the authors analyze how firm efficiency changed, in response to changing competitive...