ENTERPRISE SURVEYS Austria 2021 Country Profile

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ENTERPRISE SURVEYS
WHAT BUSINESSES EXPERIENCE

Austria 2021

                             ENTERPRISE SURVEYS
Country Profile

                                         1
Contents
Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Firms Characteristics ...................................................................................................................................... 4

Workforce ...................................................................................................................................................... 5

Firm Performance .......................................................................................................................................... 5

Physical Infrastructure ................................................................................................................................... 6

International Trade ........................................................................................................................................ 6

Access to Finance ........................................................................................................................................... 7

Crime and Informality .................................................................................................................................... 8

Regulations, Permits, and Taxes ..................................................................................................................... 8

Corruption ..................................................................................................................................................... 9

Business Environment Obstacles .................................................................................................................... 9

Appendix...................................................................................................................................................... 11

 The Country Profiles produced by the Enterprise Analysis Unit of the World Bank Group provide an overview of key business environment indicators in each economy, comparing them to
 their respective geographic region and group of countries with similar income levels. The same topics are covered for all countries with slight variations of indicators. All indicators are based
 on the responses of firms. To learn more about the Enterprise Analysis Unit and to obtain Country Profiles for other countries, please visi t www.enterprisesurveys.org

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                                                                                                                                                                                             2
Economy Overview                             repair, hotels and restaurants, transportation, storage,
                                                             communications, construction, and IT. Public utilities,
                   Austria 2021                              government services, health care, and financial services
                    Region:    Europe & Central Asia         sectors are not included in the sample (Figure 1). The ES
              Income Group:    High Income                   interview takes place with top managers and business
                                                             owners.
Introduction
                                                             The ES are repeated approximately every four years for a
The Enterprise Surveys (ES) focus on many aspects of the     particular economy (or region). By tracking changes in the
business environment. These factors can be                   business environment, policymakers and researchers can
accommodating or constraining for firms and play an          look at the effects of policy and regulatory reforms on
important role in whether an economy’s private sector        firm performance. Repeated surveys aid in studying the
will thrive or not. An accommodating business                evolution of the business environment and how it affects
environment is one that encourages firms to operate          the dynamics of the private sector.
efficiently. Such conditions strengthen incentives for
firms to innovate and to increase productivity — key         This document summarizes the results of the Enterprise
factors for sustainable development. A more productive       Survey for Austria. Business owners and top managers in
private sector, in turn, expands employment and              600 firms were interviewed between October 2020 and
contributes taxes necessary for public investment in         July 2021. Figure 2 provides a description of the sample
health, education, and other services. Questions             breakdown across the three survey design categories:
contained in the ES aim at covering most of the topics       business sector, firm size, and location.
mentioned above. The topics include infrastructure,
trade, finance, regulations, taxes and business licensing,
corruption, crime and informality, access to finance,        Figure 1: Sectors of the economy covered by the
innovation, labor, and perceptions about obstacles to        Enterprise Surveys
doing business.                                                         Excluded                        Included
                                                             SECTORS                        SECTORS
The ES are conducted by the World Bank Group and its           Agriculture                    Manufacturing (all subsectors)
partners across all geographic regions and cover small,        Fishing                        Construction
                                                               Mining                         Motor vehicles sales and
medium, and large firms. The size of the firm is               Public utilities               repair
determined by the number of employees: 5 to 19 (small),        Financial intermediation       Wholesale
20 to 99 (medium), and 100 or more (large). Firms with         Public administration          Retail
less than five employees are ineligible for the survey.        Education, health and social   Hotels and restaurants
                                                               work                           Storage, transportation, and
Firms that are 100% state-owned are also ineligible. The
                                                                                              communications
ES for Austria was made possible thanks to the                                                IT
cooperation with the European Commission (EC).               ADDITIONAL CRITERIA              ADDITIONAL CRITERIA
                                                               • < 5 employees                  • 5+ employees
The surveys are administered to a representative sample1       • Informal firms                 • Formal (registered) firms
of firms in the non-agricultural, formal, private economy.     • 100% state-owned firms         • Minimum of 1% private
Sector coverage is defined consistently across all                                                 ownership
economies and includes the entire manufacturing sector
and most services sectors: retail, wholesale, automotive

                                                                                                                          3
Figure 2: Characteristics of firms surveyed
 Sector

                                33
                     51

                                116   Food [51]   Machinery & Equipment [33]            Other Manufacturing [116]   Retail [80]    Other Services [320]
   320

                          80

 Size

               58

         143
                                                   Small (5-19) [399]              Medium (20-99) [143]             Large (100+) [58]
                          399

 Location

        173
                                214

                                                     Western [214]                           Eastern [213]                Southern [173]

               213

Firms Characteristics                                                    Figure 3: Age distribution of firms
                                                                                        30
In addition to collecting information on the business
                                                                                                23
environment and firm performance, the ES also collect
information on characteristics of private firms. Figure 3                               20              19    19
                                                                           % of Firms

                                                                                                                                              17
shows the distribution of firms in the private sector
according to their age, measured by the number of years
                                                                                                                     10
they have been in operation. The effect of the business                                 10                                     8
environment on firm performance may depend on firms’                                                                                    5
experience and longevity. Also, older firms and young
firms may differ in their ability to successfully navigate the
                                                                                         0
business environment.                                                                          0-10    11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50 51-60          60+
                                                                                                               Firm Age (Years)

                                                                                                                                                     4
Figure 4 exhibits the percentage of female participation in                            The incidence of training is measured by the percent of
employment, in top management and in firm ownership,                                   firms that offer formal training and the intensity of
compared to the equivalent percentages for the region                                  training is measured by the share of workers receiving
and for economies with similar income levels. Female                                   training in the manufacturing sector.
inclusion in economic activity is necessary for promoting
shared prosperity, one of the twin development goals of                                Figure 6: Within firms offering training, proportion of
the World Bank Group.                                                                  workers trained*
                                                                                                       60                                                   51
Figure 4: Female participation in employment, top                                                                                         47
                                                                                                       50

                                                                                        % of Firms
management and ownership                                                                               40
                                                                                                                      27
             50                                                                                        30
                          39    39                                           39                        20
             40                       36                           37
                                                                        34
                                                                                                       10
Percentage

             30                                                                                            0
                                               19   18   18                                          Austria2021 Europe & Central Asia High Income
             20
                                                                                        * only for manufacturing firms
             10

                   0                                                                   Firm Performance
                        % Employees that       % Firms w/ a      % Firms w/
                           are female           female top         female              If an economy’s business environment is supportive and
                                                 manager       participation in
                                                                                       competitive, resources are often channeled to the most
                                                                 ownership
                                                                                       productive uses and firms invest to further increase their
                   Austria2021             Europe & Central Asia         High Income   productivity. Using the responses to questions on annual
                                                                                       sales and the total number of permanent full-time
                                                                                       employees, both in the last fiscal year and three fiscal
Workforce                                                                              years earlier, growth measures can be computed for each
                                                                                       firm. Figure 7 displays the resulting annual growth rate in
The ES collect workforce information such as the number                                employment and in real sales. By looking at business
of permanent full-time employees, the number of                                        environment measures in conjunction with available
temporary employees, employees by gender, whether                                      performance measures, policymakers can determine
formal training is offered, and the top manager’s                                      which aspects of the business environment may be
experience working in the firm’s sector. In addition, for                              impeding or enabling the growth of the private sector.
manufacturing firms, the ES also collects the breakdown
                                                                                       Figure 7: Annual employment and sales growth
of the workforce between production and non-
production workers and between skilled and unskilled                                                  6
                                                                                                                                                                 3.9
production workers. Figures 5 and 6 highlight firms’                                                  4                    2.9    3.0                     2.6
investment in the skills and capabilities of their
                                                                                           % Annual

workforce.                                                                                            2
                                                                                                                    0.2
Figure 5: Percentage of firms offering formal training                                                0
                   50                43                                       41                               Annual employment growth Real annual sales growth (%)
                   40                                    35                                           -2                  (%)
      % of Firms

                   30
                                                                                                      -4                                           -3.0
                   20
                   10
                    0
                               Austria2021       Europe & Central        High Income                       Austria2021           Europe & Central Asia      High Income
                                                      Asia

                                                                                                                                                                       5
Physical Infrastructure                                                                       Figure 9: Days to obtain an electrical connection
                                                                                                                   60
                                                                                                                                                                          51
 A well-developed physical infrastructure, including roads,                                                        50
                                                                                                                                                         40
 electricity, water and telecommunications, is central to                                                          40

                                                                                                Days
 competitiveness and growth of an economy. Quality
                                                                                                                   30                  23
 infrastructure efficiently connects firms to markets for
                                                                                                                   20
 inputs, products, and technologies. It reduces the cost of
 production and enhances the competitiveness of firms in                                                           10
 domestic and international markets.                                                                                        0
                                                                                                                                   Austria2021     Europe & Central   High Income
 The ES capture the dual challenge of providing a strong                                                                                                Asia
 infrastructure for electricity, water supply and                                              For many industries in the manufacturing sector water is
 telecommunications in addition to information on the                                          also an important input in the manufacturing process.
 development of institutions that effectively provide and                                      Figure 10 presents the average number of water
 maintain these public services.                                                               insufficiencies in a typical month experienced by firms in
                                                                                               the manufacturing sector. Interruptions in water
 Efficiency in the operation of the private sector requires a                                  provision can have serious harmful effects on firms’
 reliable supply of electricity. Figure 8 shows the extent to                                  operations.
 which firms face failures in the provision of electricity as
 measured by the percent of firms experiencing electrical                                      Figure 10: Reliability of water supply*
 outages and by the number of power outages. Inadequate                                                                                                    0.19
                                                                                                   No. of Insufficiencies

                                                                                                                            0.20
 electricity provision supply can increase costs, disrupt                                                                   0.15
 production, and reduce profitability.                                                                                      0.10
                                                                                                                                                                               0.05
                                                                                                                            0.05
Figure 8: Reliability of electricity supply and related                                                                                  0.00
                                                                                                                            0.00
losses
                                                                                                                                     Austria2021     Europe & Central    High Income
               35              31.0                                 2                                                                                     Asia
                                                                        No. of Power Outages

               30                                                                              * only for manufacturing firms
                                      24.0
               25
  % of Firms

               20                                                                              International Trade
                                                      0.8
               15       10.8
               10                                                                              Participation in international trade allows firms to
                                                            0.3
                5                               0.1                                            expand, raise standards for efficiency, import materials at
                0                                                   0                          lower cost, and acquire updated and better technologies.
                    % of firms experiencing No. of power outages                               However, trading also requires that firms deal with
                      electrical outages                                                       customs and trade regulations, and often firms are also
                                                                                               required to obtain export and import licenses.
               Austria2021       Europe & Central Asia       High Income
                                                                                               The ES quantify the trade activity of firms and collects
                                                                                               information on the operational constraints faced when
 Figure 9 displays the efficiency of infrastructure services                                   exporting and importing. Figure 11 provides a measure of
 by quantifying the number of days it takes to obtain an                                       the intensity of foreign trade in the private sector,
 electricity connection. Service delays impose additional                                      captured by the percentage of firms that export directly
 costs on firms and may act as barriers to entry and                                           at least 10% of their total annual sales. Figure 11 also
 investment.                                                                                   shows the percentage of manufacturing firms that use
                                                                                               inputs or supplies of foreign origin.

                                                                                                                                                                                       6
Figure 11: Percentage of exporting and importing firms                           The ES provide indicators on the sources of firms financing
          100                                            87
                                                                                 and on the characteristics of their financial transactions.
                                                                      74         Figure 13 compares the various sources used to finance
               80                                              70
                                                                                 purchases of fixed assets (investments). Investment
  % of Firms

               60                                                                purchases can be financed by internal sources, banks,
               40          29                                                    inputs’ supplier credit, or other sources, including non-
                                 17      21                                      bank financial institutions or personal networks.
               20
                                                                                 Excessive reliance on internal funds may indicate
               0                                                                 potentially inefficient financial intermediation.
                    % of firms exporting directly   % Using inputs of foreign
                                                             origin*
                                                                                 Figure 14 displays two indicators of the use of financial
                Austria2021           Europe & Central Asia        High Income   services by private firms: the percentage of firms with a
                                                                                 checking or savings account and the percentage of firms
                                                                                 with a bank loan. The former indicator measures the use
* only for manufacturing firms
                                                                                 of deposit mobilization services which helps firms to
Efficient customs procedures enable businesses to                                manage their liquidity and payments. The second
directly export and import goods. Figure 12 displays the                         indicator measures the use of financial services on the
average number of days to clear customs for exports and                          credit side. Availability of credit permits funding projects
imports. Delays in clearing customs for exports and                              that otherwise would be constrained by each firm’s
imports create additional costs to the firm, can interrupt                       limited pool of funds.
production, interfere with sales, and may result in
                                                                                 Figure 13: Sources of financing for purchases of fixed
damaged supplies or merchandise.
                                                                                 assets
Figure 12: Average days to clear exports and imports
through customs
                                                                                                         Austria2021        16 11             81                2
                7
                                                               6      6
                6
                5                 4      4                                                 Europe & Central Asia            14 44             74                3
                4
        Days

                3           2
                                                          2
                2                                                                                       High Income         17 2 4            73                4
                1
                0
                                                                                                                        0      20        40     60   80         100
                         Exports at customs           Imports at customs
                                                                                                                                     % of Investment

                Austria2021        Europe & Central Asia        High Income           Financed by banks                        Financed by equity
                                                                                      Financed by supplier credit              Financed internally
                                                                                      Other
Access to Finance
                                                                                 Figure 14: Use of financial services
Well-developed financial markets provide payment                                                100       100                  100                   100
services, mobilize deposits, and facilitate funding for the
                                                                                                80
purchase of fixed assets – such as buildings, land,
                                                                                   % of Firms

machinery, and equipment – as well as working capital.                                          60                                     46
                                                                                                                41                                         39
Efficient financial markets reduce the reliance on internal                                     40
funds or informal sources such as family and friends by                                         20
connecting firms that are creditworthy to a broad range                                          0
of lenders and investors.                                                                                Small (5-19)        Medium (20-99)        Large (100+)

                                                                                                      With checking/savings account         With bank loan

                                                                                                                                                                      7
Crime and Informality                                                   Figure 16: Firms and informality
                                                                                                 100                                          99        96   96
Firms can become the target of theft, robbery, vandalism,                                        80
or arson. Protecting themselves against crime imposes

                                                                                    % of Firms
costs as firms are forced to divert resources from                                               60
productive uses to cover security costs. Moreover, both                                          40                  33      30
foreign and domestic investors perceive crime as an                                                           17
                                                                                                 20
indication of social instability, and crime drives up the cost
                                                                                                  0
of doing business.
                                                                                                           Compete with informal        Registered when started
                                                                                                                  firms                        operations
Figure 15 displays the average security costs as a
percentage of sales for firms that pay for security, as well                                           Austria2021        Europe & Central Asia          High Income
as the average losses from theft and vandalism among
firms that experience losses. These resources represent
the opportunity cost of crime since they could have been                Regulations, Permits, and Taxes
invested in productive activities.
                                                                        Good economic governance in areas such as regulations,
Figure 15: Firms’ cost of crime                                         business licensing, and taxation is a fundamental pillar of
                                                                        a favorable business environment. Registered firms pay
             3                                          2.6             taxes and are supposed to comply with regulations.
% of Sales

                            1.9
                                                               1.8      Figure 17: Time tax and meetings with tax officials
             2
                      1.2                                                            12                  11                              36                  40
                                   1.1                                                                               10.2
             1                                                                       10                        8.7
                                                 0.5

                                                                                                                                                                  % of Firms
                                                                        % of Time

                                                                                          8                                                        22
             0                                                                            6                                        17                        20
                  % Sales in security costs    % Sales in theft costs
                                                                                          4

             Austria2021      Europe & Central Asia     High Income                       2
                                                                                          0                                                                  0
                                                                                                       Senior mgmt time w/ % of firms that met with
When firms are formally registered, they are required to                                                 govt regulations         tax officials
abide by rules and regulations, which are commonly set
by governments. Paying taxes is usually the most tangible                                        Austria2021         Europe & Central Asia          High Income
consequence of becoming part of the formal private
sector. Some firms try to avoid these consequences by                   Permits and licenses are usually required for business to
not registering their business and thereby remaining in                 operate, build a new structure, and to import directly,
the informal sector. A large informal sector may represent              among other activities. Ideally, these regulations and
a challenge to competing formal firms as informal firms                 permits safeguard the general public’s interest while
are able to engage in practices that can give an unfair                 remaining transparent and not imposing heavy burdens
advantage over formal firms that must comply with the                   on the private sector.
prevailing rules and regulations.
                                                                        The ES provide quantitative measures of regulations such
Figure 16 provides two measures of the incidence of                     as business licensing and taxation. Figure 17 illustrates
informality in the private sector. The first indicator is the           the “time tax” imposed by regulations, which is the
percentage of firms that indicate that they face                        percentage of time spent by senior management dealing
competition from unregistered or informal firms. The                    with regulatory compliance. Figure 17 also presents the
second indicator is the percentage of currently registered              percent of firms that were visted or required to meet with
firms that started operations being formally registered.                tax officials.

                                                                                                                                                                         8
Figure 18 focuses on the efficiency of business licensing            The ES capture individual transactions where bribes may
and permit services. The indicators measure the time                 be solicited. Figure 20 displays the extent to which firms
required to obtain an import license, a construction                 are requested to pay a bribe in order to receive selected
permit, and an operating license. Delays in obtaining                public services. Businesses may be asked to pay bribes
licenses can be costly to entrepreneurs as they add                  when they request a construction permit, while trying to
uncertainty and additional costs to much needed business             secure a government contract, or during meetings with
transactions.                                                        tax officials. These three types of transactions are
                                                                     common instances where opportunities for bribery occur.
Figure 18: Number of days to obtain permits
        160                                145                       Figure 19: Bribery incidence (percent of firms
        140                                                          experiencing at least one bribe payment request)
                                115
        120
                                      95            96                              10                                           8
        100
                                                                                         8
 Days

         80

                                                                       % of Firms
                                                              59
         60                                                                              6
                                                         32
         40                                                                              4                                                        3
                14 15 15
         20                                                                              2              1
          0
                                                                                         0
              Import license    Construction     Operating license
                                                                                                 Austria2021           Europe & Central       High Income
                                  permit
                                                                                                                            Asia

         Austria2021     Europe & Central Asia      High Income
                                                                     Figure 20: Percentage of firms requested or expected to
                                                                     give gifts or informal payments
Complying with regulations is costly for businesses.
Excessive or inefficient regulations can discourage private                              12                 10
sector activity and foreign direct investment.                                           10                                          9
                                                                                                                                                      7
                                                                            % of Firms

                                                                                             8
                                                                                                                                         5
Corruption                                                                                   6                   4
                                                                                             4                               2
                                                                                                                                                  1         1
Corruption by public officials can be a major                                                2
                                                                                                    0
administrative and financial burden on firms. Corruption                                     0
creates an unfavorable business environment by                                                   For construction         For govt contract     In mtgs w/ tax
undermining operational efficiency and raising the costs                                              permit                                       officials
and risks associated with running a private firm.
                                                                                         Austria2021                 Europe & Central Asia        High Income

Inefficient regulations constrain firms’ operations as they
present opportunities for soliciting bribes, where firms             Business Environment Obstacles
are required to make “unofficial” payments to public
officials to get things done. In many economies bribes are           Most indicators in the ES are derived from survey
common and quite high and they add to the bureaucratic               questions that ask businesses for their actual experiences
costs in obtaining required permits and licenses. They can           dealing with the business environment. For example,
be a serious impediment for firms’ growth and                        “How many days did it take to get a permit?” or “How
development.                                                         many hours did the power outage last?”. A small number
                                                                     of survey questions ask business owners or top managers
Figure 19 provides a composite index of corruption, the              for their subjective opinion regarding the importance of
bribery incidence, that reflects the percentage of firms             various business environment elements.
experiencing at least one bribe payment request across
six different transactions including paying taxes, obtaining         Figure 21 shows the percentage of firms that consider a
permits or licenses, and obtaining utility connections.              specific business environment obstacle as the most
                                                                     important one. The respondent was asked to choose the

                                                                                                                                                                 9
biggest obstacle to their business from a list of 15                                                   perceptions of managers of medium and small firms. This
business environment obstacles. The figure presents the                                                is related to the capacity to navigate business
top 10 ranking obstacles compared to the regional                                                      environment obstacles: larger firms may have more
averages.                                                                                              options to face obstacles but at the same time they are
                                                                                                       also more visible and more exposed to failures of the
Figure 22 displays the top 3 obstacles for small, medium,
                                                                                                       business environment.
and large firms. In many economies, the perceptions of
managers of large firms are very different from the

Figure 21: Top ten business environment constraints

             70                                                                       Austria2021
                                                                                      Europe & Central Asia
             60       57

             50
% of Firms

             40

             30
                                     21
             20
                                                   11
             10
                                                                             3              2                   1                    1                 1              1              1
             0
                  Inadequately   Tax rates        Labor        Tax                     Electricity           Political          Business           Access to    Transportation Access to land
                    educated                   regulations administration                                   instability      licenses and           finance
                    workforce                                                                                                   permits

    Figure 22: Top three business environment constraints by size
                      Small (5-19 Employees)                                     Medium (20-99 Employees)                                             Large (100+ Employees)

             60       55                                                70                                                               70          66
                                                                                 61
             50                                                         60                                                               60
% of Firms

                                                                        50                                                               50
                                                                                                                                % of Firms
                                                           % of Firms

             40
                                                                        40                                                               40
             30
                                   21                                   30                                                               30
             20                                                                                   20
                                                11                      20                                                               20                          13              13
             10                                                                                                     8
                                                                        10                                                               10
              0                                                         0                                                                    0
                  Inadequately   Tax rates      Labor                        Inadequately       Tax rates         Labor                          Inadequately      Tax rates   Labor regulations
                    educated                 regulations                       educated                        regulations                         educated
                    workforce                                                  workforce                                                           workforce

                                                                                                                                                                                             10
Appendix
The following tables contain the values of all indicator variables used in the country profile.

                                                                                         Austria2021               Europe &
                                                                                                                                 High
                                                                               All    Small Medium       Large      Central
                                                                                                                               Income
                                                                             Firms    firms     firms    firms       Asia
 Firm Characteristics
 Age of the establishment (years)                                              34.8     31.2      43.1     50.0         19.4      23.7
 Percent of firms with at least 10% foreign ownership                           9.5      7.0      12.8     30.5          8.6      10.6
 Percent of firms with at least 10% government/state ownership                  0.0      0.0       0.0      0.0          0.6       0.3
 Gender
 Percent of firms with female participation in ownership                       36.9     37.6      35.6     32.1         33.9      39.4
 Percent of firms with a female top manager                                    18.8     20.1      17.8      4.2         18.3      17.8
 Proportion of permanent full-time workers that are female (%)                 39.2     40.8      35.5     32.1         39.3      36.1
 Percentage of permanent full-time non-production workers that are
                                                                               49.2     50.4      50.4     38.8         49.2      45.9
 female*
 Percentage of permanent full-time production workers that are female*         27.1     29.2      21.1     28.3         36.5      27.9
 Workforce
 Percent of firms offering formal training                                     42.6     35.2      60.3     71.9         34.7      41.1
 Proportion of workers offered formal training (%)*                            26.8     32.8      18.4     15.8         47.0      50.9
 Years of the top manager's experience working in the firm's sector            26.8     27.0      26.0     27.9         20.6      24.2
 Number of workers                                                             22.6      8.1      36.2    184.7         30.7      27.7
 Proportion of permanent workers (out of all workers)                          98.0     97.9      97.9     99.3         95.6      95.0
 Proportion of temporary workers (out of all workers)                           2.0      2.1       2.1      0.7          4.4       5.0
 Proportion of production workers (out of all permanent workers)*              63.2     64.3      61.7     59.3         70.9      69.0
 Proportion of skilled workers (out of all production workers)*                92.0     93.6      92.9     79.5         78.2      80.1
 Performance
 Real annual sales growth (%)                                                  -3.0     -2.9      -2.5      -5.4         2.6       3.9
 Annual employment growth (%)                                                   0.2      0.2       0.4      -0.7         2.9       3.0
 Innovation and Technology
 Percent of firms that spend on R&D                                            25.1     19.9      34.3     59.3         11.3      14.6
 Percent of firms that introduced a new product/service                        50.0     45.8      61.2     63.3         34.4      39.8
 Percent of firms whose new product/service is also new to the main
                                                                               67.5     64.9      72.3     74.5         64.3      63.5
 market
 Percent of firms that introduced a process innovation                         22.3     20.1      27.6     31.8         19.7      25.7
 Infrastructure
 Number of electrical outages in a typical month                                0.1      0.1       0.1      0.1          0.8       0.3
 Percent of firms experiencing electrical outages                              10.8     10.8      11.0      9.7         31.0      24.0
 Days to obtain an electrical connection (upon application)                    22.8     18.2      42.8     10.7         40.5      50.6
 Percent of firms experiencing water insufficiencies*                           0.0      0.0       0.0      0.0          4.0       3.1
 Number of water insufficiencies in a typical month*                            0.0      0.0       0.0      0.0          0.2       0.0
 Trade
 Days to clear direct exports through customs                                   2.3      2.2       1.9      3.3          4.2       4.2
 Percent of firms exporting directly (at least 10% of sales)                   29.4     24.7      40.1     49.8         17.4      20.7
 Percent of firms exporting directly or indirectly (at least 10% of sales)     32.2     27.4      43.5     52.8         22.2      25.9
 Days to clear imports from customs*                                            1.8      1.9       1.9      1.3          5.9       5.6
 Percent of firms using material inputs and/or supplies of foreign origin*     86.8     84.0      88.4    100.0         69.7      74.3
 Finance
 Percent of firms with a checking or savings account                          100.0    100.0     100.0    100.0         95.9      97.6
 Percent of firms with a bank loan/line of credit                              41.8     40.8      45.5     39.2         38.9      44.8
 Proportion of investment financed internally (%)                              80.5     78.8      84.7     83.1         74.5      73.0
 Proportion of investment financed by banks (%)                                16.2     17.6      13.5     12.1         14.4      16.9
 Proportion of investment financed by supplier credit (%)                       0.6      0.8       0.0      0.4          4.0       3.9
 Percent of firms using supplier/customer credit to finance working
                                                                                9.2      7.5      14.0     12.8         23.3      26.2
 capital

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Proportion of investment financed by equity or stock sales (%)                     1.0          0.6            1.4          4.5              4.1           2.4
Crime
 If the establishment pays for security, average security costs (% of
                                                                                   1.2          1.4            0.6          0.9              1.9           1.1
annual sales)
If there were losses, average losses due to theft and vandalism (% of
                                                                                   0.5          0.7            0.2          n.a.             2.6           1.8
annual sales)
Informality
Percent of firms competing against unregistered or informal firms                 16.9         16.9           19.3          6.8            32.8          29.8
Percent of firms formally registered when they started operations in the
                                                                                  99.2         99.3           98.8         99.0            96.3          95.7
country
Regulations and Taxes
Senior management time spent dealing with the requirements of
                                                                                  10.7         10.3           12.1         10.1              8.7         10.2
government regulation (%)
Percent of firms that were visited or required to meet with tax officials         16.8         13.3           24.8         32.3            36.2          22.0
Days to obtain an import license                                                 13.8          15.0           9.9          16.3            15.2          15.0
Days to obtain a construction-related permit                                    114.8         105.3         144.8          98.6            94.6         145.0
Days to obtain an operating license                                              96.2          50.9         193.5          83.5            32.0          59.2
Corruption
Bribery incidence (percent of firms experiencing at least one bribe
                                                                                   1.3          0.4            1.7          6.3              8.1           2.7
payment request)
Percent of firms expected to give gifts to get a construction permit               0.0          0.0            0.0          0.0            10.2            4.4
Percent of firms expected to give gifts to secure government contract              2.4          0.0            7.3          0.0             8.7            5.3
Percent of firms expected to give gifts in meetings with tax officials             1.5          0.0            0.0         14.7             6.9            1.3
Biggest Obstacle
Access to finance                                                                  0.9          1.2            0.3          0.0              9.3           6.1
Access to land                                                                     0.7          0.3            1.7          0.0              1.9           2.0
Business licenses and permits                                                      1.4          1.3            1.7          1.5              2.7           2.8
Corruption                                                                         0.6          0.3            1.7          0.0              4.2           1.5
Courts                                                                             0.0          0.0            0.0          0.0              1.3           0.6
Crime, theft and disorder                                                          0.3          0.5            0.0          0.0              1.6           1.6
Customs and trade regulations                                                      0.2          0.0            0.7          0.0              2.5           2.2
Electricity                                                                        2.2          3.1            0.0          0.0              3.5           3.0
Inadequately educated workforce                                                   57.3         55.5           60.8         65.6            17.8          24.5
Labor regulations                                                                 10.7         11.3            8.3         12.8             4.9           7.8
Political instability                                                              1.5          1.5            1.6          0.0             9.3           5.4
Practices of the informal sector                                                   0.5          0.8            0.0          0.0            12.2           9.2
Tax administration                                                                 2.6          2.4            2.2          6.9             4.7           5.4
Tax rates                                                                         20.6         21.4           19.7         13.1            19.5          22.9
Transportation                                                                     0.7          0.6            1.1          0.0              4.6           5.1
* These indicators are computed only for the manufacturing sector

   1.    The sample for each economy is stratified by industry, firm size, and geographic region. The level of detail of the stratific ation by industry depends on
         the size of the economy. Stratification by size follows the three levels presented in the text: small, medium, and large. Regional stratification includes the
         main economic regions in each economy. Through this methodology estimates for the different stratification levels can be calculated on a separate basis
         while, at the same time, inferences can be made for the non-agricultural private economy as a whole. For more details on the sampling strategy, review
         the Sampling Note available at www.enterprisesurveys.org.

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