The Impact of Consulting Services on Small and Medium Enterprises: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Mexico
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696154.pdf
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Author(s)
Bruhn, Miriam
Karlan, Dean S
Schoar, Antoinette
Date Issued
April 2018
Journal
Journal of Political Economy
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Citation
Bruhn, Miriam, Dean Karlan, and Antoinette Schoar. “The Impact of Consulting Services on Small and Medium Enterprises: Evidence from a Randomized Trial in Mexico.” Journal of Political Economy 126, no. 2 (April 2018): 635–687.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
A randomized control trial with 432 small and medium enterprises in Mexico shows positive impact of access to 1 year of management consulting services on total factor productivity and return on assets. Owners also had an increase in “entrepreneurial spirit” (an index that measures entrepreneurial confidence and goal setting). Using Mexican social security data, we find a persistent large increase (about 50 percent) in the number of employees and total wage bill even 5 years after the program. We document large heterogeneity in the specific managerial practices that improved as a result of the consulting, with the most prominent being marketing, financial accounting, and longterm business planning.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Economics
Sloan School of Management
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Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1086/696154
