Weitzenegger's Business Environment Report

Development Gateway Highlight: Business for the Environment
http://tinyurl.com/67nmfv
The human race is pushing our planet towards the edge of disaster by flooding land, sea, and air with pollution and by over use of our natural resources. These issues amount to one of the greatest challenges humanity has ever faced. As the world explores alternative growth paths, new ways of doing business are critical. Innovative solutions are pointing the way to new business models and market opportunities.'' B4E, the Global Business Summit for the Environment, is the leading international conference focusing on business and the environment. B4E 2008, held in Singapore on April 22, highlighted the most urgent environmental challenges facing the world today and discussed business-driven solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Important topics addressed include resource efficiencies, renewable energies, new business models and climate strategies. Delegates shared best practices for identifying and managing the risks posed by climate change and uncover opportunities for developing competitive advantages.

Africa’s economic growth in 2007 again well above the long-term trend
http://tinyurl.com/5wyzzu
Africa’s average real GDP grew by 5.7 per cent in 2007. The 2008 African Economic Outlook report , jointly published by the African Development Bank, the OECD Development Centre and the UNECA expects the rate of GDP growth to strengthen to about 6 per cent in 2008 and in 2009. The 2008 African Economic Outlook focuses on Technical Skills Development. It also presents a comprehensive analysis of the economic, social and political developments on the continent. Now in its seventh year, the AEO is the only report on Africa which applies a common analytical framework to every country, every year. Produced by the OECD Development Centre, the African Development Bank and, for the first time this year, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the AEO is the essential reference on Africa. It benefits from the support of the European Commission.

ODI works on the contribution business can make to development
http://www.odi.org.uk/go?where=nl0805-privatesector
A major effort is needed to improve the contribution of business to development, according to new ODI research. The role of business in development is a key theme for ODI in 2008, and is the subject of three new ODI Opinions.

The 2008 Reader on Private Sector Development - Measuring and Reporting Results
http://www.mmw4p.org/dyn/bds/docs/detail/649/4
Paper by Jim Tanburn, ITC, SDC
There is little information available about the impacts of programmes for private sector development (PSD), mainly because programme goals are often very ambitious, and impacts costly to quantify, relative to the resources available. Indeed, the cost of measuring impacts is often classified as an ‘overhead’, to be kept to a minimum. Those aiming to stimulate systemic change also point out that their work does not lend itself to the mechanistic model of inputs-outputs-outcomes-impacts in conventional thinking. Besides, practitioners would need to accept the methodology, and to be rewarded for good performance, for results measurement to be adopted on a large scale. However, current indicators in common usage, such as leverage (to be maximised) and overhead (to be minimised), encourage perverse incentives and distract from the core task of achieving developmental goals. The many self-published ‘success stories’ leave most observers confused.

Creating an enabling environment for for private sector development in Sub-Saharan Africa
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/07-89144Ebook1.pdf
This report discusses how the business environment in Sub-Saharan African can be improved in order to foster enterprise development. Past efforts to boost private sector development have shown disappointing results. This holds especially for the orthodox structural adjustment programmes of the 1980s and 90s. But also the wide array of support schemes by governments and donors aimed to strengthen specific industries, groups of enterprises, or supporting institutions have rarely had a significant impact. Although a few remarkable project successes exist, these mostly remain isolated events with no country-wide outreach and no measurable effect on aggregate economic growth.

Business for the Environment B4E
http://www.b4esummit.com
B4E, the Global Business Summit for the Environment, is the leading international conference focusing on business and the environment. B4E 2008 will highlight the most urgent environmental challenges facing the world today and discuss business-driven solutions for mitigating and adapting to climate change. Important topics addressed will include resource efficiencies, renewable energies, new business models and climate strategies. Delegates will learn best practices for identifying and managing the risks posed by climate change and uncover opportunities for developing competitive advantages.

Creating Sustainable Enterprise
http://www.impact-dtg.com
Impact are global leaders in sustainable business transformation and people development. Our learning journeys and training solutions inspire new thinking and generate the meaningful dialogue needed to create and develop sustainable enterprise. Impact help people work more effectively together. As experts in behavioural change and leadership development, we work with organisations on their journey to becoming a sustainable enterprise.

The EC Magazine of Enterprise Policy
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ei/indexen.htm
The new Enterprise & Industry on-line magazine will provide regular updates on policy development, on legislative proposals and their passage to adoption, and on the implementation and review of regulation affecting enterprises. Articles will cover issues related to SMEs, innovation, entrepreneurship, the single market for goods, competitiveness and environmental protection, better regulation, industrial policies across a wide range of sectors, and more.

SEPT: Small enterprise promotion + training
http://www.sept.uni-leipzig.de
The Small Enterprise Promotion Network (SEPneT) is an alumni network of more than 200 experts from over 70 countries specialized in SME issues. All members have studied in Germany.

OECD Competition Assessment Toolkit
http://tinyurl.com/5glxzk
Governments can reduce unnecessary restrictions by considering the use of methods in the OECD’s new ''Competition Assessment Toolkit”. The Toolkit provides a general methodology for identifying unnecessary restraints and developing alternative, less restrictive policies that still achieve government objectives. One of the main elements of the Toolkit is a Competition Checklist that asks a series of simple questions to screen for laws and regulations that have the potential to unnecessarily restrain competition. The Toolkit is available in: Chinese, English, French, Hungarian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Turkish.

Improving the Business Enabling Environment, by IFC
http://www.ifc.org/bee
Here IFC collects, summarizes, and analyzes various data on the successes and failures of business environment reform efforts, and develop practical guides for designing and implementing these reforms. They are currently focusing on business registration, business licensing, business inspections, municipal simplification, corporate tax administration, export/import procedures, building the capacity of business membership organizations, and alternative dispute resolution.

World Bank Knowledge Resources: Financial & Private Sector Development
http://rru.worldbank.org
Rapid Response is the World Bank Group’s knowledge hub on financial and private sector development in developing countries. This site offers best practice public policy advice for private sector led growth and financial market development in developing countries. Find expert analysis, powerful databases, quick solutions, and comprehensive ''how-to'' guides.

UNEP calls for end to barriers on fast-growing ''green economy''
http://tinyurl.com/38nqx3
A global ''green economy'' is now emerging but governments must move fast to scrap the many barriers and fossil-fuel subsidies that hamper it, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said. Presenting an annual report, Year Book 2008, the Nairobi-based agency said investment in environmentally-friendly projects was rising fast and more and more corporations were driving to save energy, thus helping to combat carbon emissions. Power companies in North America, international car manufacturers, metals and mining companies are praised for making inroads into their greenhouse-gas pollution. But oil, gas and chemicals are among the industries doing little or nothing to cut their contribution to the greenhouse-gas problem, the agency said, presenting the report at a conference in Monaco gathering environment ministers and the UNEP governing council.

A strategy for macroeconomic stability in developing countries
http://tinyurl.com/23g3sb
A new World Bank article describes a strategy for developing countries to fight macroeconomic volatility multi-front, as outlined by World Bank researchers Servén, Raddatz, and Loayza. This includes improving the ability to absorb external shocks, as well as avoiding self-inflicted policy mistakes.

IFC Toolkit: Designing a Tax System for Micro and Small Businesses
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/media.nsf/Content/DesigningTaxSystem
In this toolkit, the World Bank Group and donor partners provide a number of options for reforming the tax system in developing countries to facilitate small business compliance. While it does include some tax administration reform options, its focus is on tax policy.

Subsidies – Who really benefits?
http://ipsnews.net/newfocus/subsidies/index.asp
Monthly newsletter for journalists about the impact of subsidies, produced in partnership by IPS - Inter Press Service and GSI - Global Subsidies Initiative. Subsidy Watch Archive: http://www.globalsubsidies.org/rubrique.php3?idrubrique=33

EIM's Public Knowledge Web on SMEs and Entrepreneurship
http://www.entrepreneurship-sme.eu
EIM carries out a long term research program on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurship, which is being financed by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. Some major themes are nascent entrepreneurship, business start-ups, high growth enterprises, firm size distribution, innovation, internationalization, job creation and human resources management in SMEs.

FRAME: Framework for Reporting, Analysis, Monitoring, and Evaluation
http://www.seepnetwork.org/section/frame
SEEP's FRAME Tool and companion manual, Measuring Performance of Microfinance Institutions (the Framework), represent an initiative towards reaching global standards for microfinance performance monitoring and reporting. The FRAME Tool and Framework complement each other, and should be used in conjunction. The FRAME Tool, and Framework ratios, were developed by and for microfinance practitioners, in conjunction with raters, network organizations, donors, and investors. SEEP is proud to release FRAME 2.0, with over nineteen new features.

European Commission prepares Small Business Act
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/newsroom/cf/itemlongdetail.cfm?itemid=1274
The European Commission launched a public consultation on the content of a European ''Small Business Act''. Its objective is to put small and medium sized enterprises at the forefront of decision-making in the EU and to introduce concrete measures to unlock the SMEs' growth potential. It will include new initiatives to reduce regulatory burden on SMEs, facilitate access to Single Market/public procurement, help provide necessary financial/human resources for SME development and help SMEs face the challenge of globalization and climate change. The preparation of a ''Small Business Act'' for Europe is one of the key measures announced in the Commission's package for the next cycle of the Growth and Jobs Strategy adopted last December.

The environment for women's entrepreneurship in the Middle East and North Africa Regio, World Bank Report
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTMENA/Resources/EnvironmentforWomensEntrepreneurshipinMNAfinal.pdf
Despite a commonly-held perception that women-owned firms in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are small, informal and low-tech, this study demonstrates that there is, in fact, little difference between female-owned and male-owned firms. This study aims to analyse gender-specific barriers that exist across the region or within countries and identifies factors outside the business environment that affect women's entrepreneurship.

Key to success: A sound business climate survey, by Friedrich Kaufmann
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/2SMMEforBEESurveys.pdf
A sound business climate survey can be a useful instrument for strengthening the business reform agenda. Its benefits can be multifold: It produces valuable data, enriches the public-private dialogue, and helps to prioritize political action plans and project activities. For GTZ in Mozambique, the focus on a representative quality survey, with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the provinces as the main target group, producs a real value added.

The Regoverning Markets programme
http://www.regoverningmarkets.org
The overall aim of the Regoverning Markets programme is to provide strategic advice and guidance to the public sector, agri-food chain actors, civil society organizations including economic organizations of producers, and development agencies on approaches that can anticipate and manage the impacts of the dynamic changes in local and regional markets. This programme is supported by the UK Department for International Development (DFID), ICCO, Cordaid, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). Other development partners and related programmes are also networked with this programme at international, regional and country levels.

World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008 (WESP 2008)
http://www.un.org/esa/policy/wess/wesp.html
According to WESP 2008, the world economy is facing serious challenges in sustaining the strong pace of economic growth seen over the past few years. While the baseline forecast is for world economic growth to moderate somewhat in 2008, the risks associated with the bursting of the housing bubble in the United States, the related unfolding credit crisis, the decline of the dollar, large global imbalances and high oil prices are all pointing to the downside. The report draws some lessons from the global financial turmoil of 2007, which was triggered by the meltdown of sub-prime mortgages in the United States, and points out that the various measures adopted by central banks of the major economies did not address the root causes of the turmoil: the huge global imbalances. In an alternative scenario, which takes into account the possibility of a sharper-than-expected decline in house prices in the United States and a hard landing of the US dollar, the United States economy would fall into a recession, while global growth would be significantly lower than the baseline. In addition to trends in international trade and capital flows, WESP 2008 also covers the latest progress and policy issues related to international trade negotiations and reform of the international financial system.

IFC SME: Entrepreneurship Database
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sme.nsf/Content/Entrepreneurship+Database
The 2007 World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey measures entrepreneurial activity in 84 developing and industrial countries over the period 2003-2005. The database includes cross-country, time-series data on the number of total and newly registered businesses, collected directly from Registrar of Companies around the world. In its second year, this survey incorporates improvements in methodology, and expanded participation from countries covered, allowing for greater cross-border compatibility of data compared with the 2006 survey. This joint effort by the IFC SME Department and the World Bank Developing Research Group is the most comprehensive dataset on cross-country firm entry data available today.

Addressing the Meta-Level: New Approaches to Private Sector Development
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/SVPWFMeta-LevelTools0407.pdf
This GTZ/BMZ Discussion Paper aims to deliver concrete concepts and models for development practitioners to address the meta-level within private sector development initiatives. The ultimate objective is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of development work.

Entrepreneurship: New Data on Business Creation and How to Promote It
http://rru.worldbank.org/documents/publicpolicyjournal/316KlapperDelgado.pdf
The World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey continues to extend our knowledge of the importance of entrepreneurship for a dynamic economy. In its second year, with more countries participating, the survey again shows a strong relationship between entrepreneurship, the business environment, and governance. New data shed light on how the distribution of businesses among sectors varies by level of development. And analysis of new data on business registration suggests that automation can greatly reduce the barriers to starting a business. This finding makes a strong case for pursuing e-government initiatives to spur entrepreneurship.

IFC SME Entrepreneurship Database
http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/sme.nsf/Content/Entrepreneurship+Database
The 2007 World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey measures entrepreneurial activity in 84 developing and industrial countries over the period 2003-2005. The database includes cross-country, time-series data on the number of total and newly registered businesses, collected directly from Registrar of Companies around the world. In its second year, this survey incorporates improvements in methodology, and expanded participation from countries covered, allowing for greater cross-border compatibility of data compared with the 2006 survey. This joint effort by the IFC SME Department and the World Bank Developing Research Group is the most comprehensive dataset on cross-country firm entry data available today.

Business Environment Snapshots
http://rru.worldbank.org/besnapshots/
Another new World Bank site, Business Environment Snapshots present measurable indicators across a wide range of business environment issues and over time. This new web-enabled tool compiles many data, indicators, and project information on the business environment for each country in an easily accessible, consistent and usable format.

Doing Business 2008: It's Regulation, Stupid
http://www.doingbusiness.org
As countries reform their business regulation, more businesses are starting up. Eastern Europe has witnessed a boom in new business entry that rivals the rapid growth in East Asia in the past. Large emerging markets such as India, China, Egypt, Turkey, and Indonesia, are reforming fast and investors are taking notice. This year Egypt is the top reforming country worldwide, while Singapore is #1 on the ease of doing business for the second consecutive year. This is a summary of the annual report from the World Bank, including the rankings of 172 countries on the Ease of Doing Business Index.

OECD: Private Sector Development in Poor Countries
Seeking Better Policy Recipes?
http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/32/24/38641808.pdf
Building a successful Public-Private dialogue (PPD) requires much more than legal procedures and administrative structures. Dialogue and compromise are necessary for governments to learn about the private sector's problems and adjust policies to foster its growth and development. This study addresses the obstacles to efficient PPD in low-income countries, with a special focus on sub-Saharan Africa.

ICT and Business Development
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/businessenvironment/rc/filedownload.do?itemId=1113801
This short briefing note provides guidance for material or presentations on the topic of ICT and the local economy. They set out examples to illustrate the ICT impact on business, including web sites, e-mail, finance software, Internet networks and a range of technologies enabling work out of the office. They also give a broad vision of the role of the public sector in business development through ICTs, including through a legal framework, connectivity and innovation

Financial development and innovation in small firms
http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2007/09/12/00015834920070912093936/Rendered/PDF/wps4350.pdf
This World Bank paper uses firm level data from a cross-section of 57 countries to study how financial development affects innovation in small firms. The analysis finds that relative to large firms in the same industry, spending on research and development by small firms is more likely and sizable in countries at higher levels of financial development.

The state of responsible business: global corporate response to environmental, social and governance (ESG) challenges
http://www.eiris.org/files/research%20publications/stateofrespbusinesssep07.pdf
This report by Bob Gordon provides an overview on the environmental, social and governance (ESG) impacts of corporations. Data is presented by country/region and contextual analysis is provided. Issues covered include corporate governance, equal opportunities, human rights, supply chain labour standards, environmental responsibility and community involvement. In addition, the report also addresses topics including climate change. HIV and AIDS and responsible business practices in emerging markets.

Ideas for Development
http://www.ideas4development.org
International Blog designed to stimulate debate on economic development issues, will be launched in Washington DC on 21 October 2007 at the World Bank and IMF annual meetings. Created by seven prominent personalities, this blog provides web users with a new forum to share information, viewpoints and visions for the future, with the common goal of advancing the cause of development. Ideas for Development is an original platform of exchange – in its format as well as in its content. It will offer many applications such as video, RSS syndicate and e-mail updates. Available in three languages – English, French and Spanish – Ideas for Development will host wide-ranging debates, crossing perspectives and points of views from all over the world.

Doing Business 2007: How to Reform
http://www.doingbusiness.org/documents/DoingBusiness2007FullReport.pdf
Doing Business presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that can be compared across 175 economies—from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe—and over time. Regulations affecting 10 areas of everyday business are measured: starting a business, dealing with licenses, employing workers, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and closing a business. The indicators are used to analyze economic outcomes and identify what reforms have worked, where and why.

Addressing the Meta-Level - New Approaches to Private Sector Development
http://www2.gtz.de/wbf/doc/SVPWFMeta-LevelTools0407.pdf
GTZ Discussion Paper: Systemic competitiveness is the guiding framework for private sector development within the context of development cooperation. This framework distinguishes four interlinked levels of intervention: the micro-, the meso-, the macro- and the meta-levels of competitiveness. The latter denotes the socio-cultural, economic and political patterns and orientations in a given society or country and is often linked to long-term societal changes and dynamics. Even though the meta-level is highly relevant for private sector development, it is seldom explicitly addressed in practical development work. The study to hand has been initiated so as to explore innovative approaches for private sector development which address the metalevel of systemic competitiveness.

Entrepreneurship: New Data on Business Creation and How to Promote It
http://rru.worldbank.org/PublicPolicyJournal/Summary.aspx?id=316
This World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey continues to extend our knowledge of the importance of entrepreneurship for a dynamic economy. In its second year, with more countries participating, the survey again shows a strong relationship between entrepreneurship, the business environment, and governance. New data shed light on how the distribution of businesses among sectors varies by level of development. And analysis of new data on business registration suggests that automation can greatly reduce the barriers to starting a business. This finding makes a strong case for pursuing e-government initiatives to spur entrepreneurship.

Private Sector Enabling Environment Facility (PSEEF) – BizClim
http://www.acpbusinessclimate.org
The Private Sector Enabling Environment Facility (PSEEF) is an EU funded initiative under the Cotonou Agreement. From now on, the Facility will be promoted under the ACP Business Climate facility (BizClim). The Facility is essentially about ‘improving legislation, institutional set up and financial measures (the rules of the game) relating to the enabling environment of the private sector in ACP countries or regions and to the reform of SOEs - and to do so by focusing on possible support to ACP governments or regional institutions’

Business for Development: Fostering the Private Sector 2007
http://www.oecd.org/document/32/0,3343,en264933731386393281111,00.html
This OECD book details the activities of the private sector in developing and emerging economies. It demonstrates how these activities are inter-related with government policies. Understanding these activities and public-private interactions is indispensable for allowing the private sector to play its fullest role in a nation’s development process. To this end, several case studies are presented to provide concrete examples from Africa, Asia and elsewhere. Their analysis includes, among others, the opportunities for expanding markets and upgrading skills in global value chains, the regulatory conditions that could best promote private sector development and the respective roles that government, business and donors can play in that process.

Business Licensing Reform: A Toolkit for Development Practitioners
http://rru.worldbank.org/Toolkits/BusinessLicenses/?cid=1295
guide gives project managers the tools for reforming business licensing regimes at the national level. Good licensing regimes rest on laws, have clear appeals procedures, and validity across sub-national jurisdictions. With guidance on identifying levers of reform, designing programs, involving stakeholders, and assessing impacts from start to finish, the reform process is broken down into four distinct phases: foundations, preparation, design, and implementation.

Six-Pack for SME Development
www.bds-forum.net/6-pack-for-sme.htm
Product descriptions for the development of small and medium enterprises (SME), by Dieter Gagel, Heidelberg 2007

Doing Business Map
http://www.doingbusiness.org/map/
In partnership with the World Bank, Google recently released a map showing the ease of Doing Business around the world. 175 countries are color coded: green for easy, yellow for moderate, and red for difficult. Countries that have an additional green star are among the top 10 reformers. Similar to Google Maps, the user can choose a satellite map of the world or a map with political boundaries superimposed over a satellite map. Both include the markers that reference the World Bank’s Doing Business report. Users can also zoom in and out as desired.

Effective Policies for Small Business: A Guide for the Policy Review Process and Strategic Plans for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise Development
http://www.ruralfinance.org/servlet/BinaryDownloaderServlet/47975Document.pdf?filename=1175776100919effectivepolicysmallbusiness.pdf&refID=47975
This comprehensive guide by Allan Gibb begins by noting that micro, small and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) make important contributions to economic and social development. In all economies they constitute the vast majority of business establishments, are usually responsible for the majority of jobs created and account for one third to two thirds of the turnover of the private sector. In many countries they have been the major engine of growth in employment and output over the last two decades. In developing countries they are seen as a major ‘self-help’ instrument for poverty eradication.

English-French glossary for small enterprise development
http://www.gret.org/ressource/resume.asp?cle=317
Ce glossaire bilingue français-anglais et anglais-français des termes de l'appui non financier aux entreprises et de la formation professionnelle a été créé pour les praticiens. Il est avant tout conçu comme un outil d'aide à la traduction, facilitant la compréhension du vocabulaire de référence, notamment pour les francophones qui souhaitent avoir accès aux ouvrages anglo-saxons. Il se compose de 42 fiches terminologiques dans les deux langues, d'un lexique d'une centaine de termes et d'une bibliographie commentée.

Financing Innovation: How to Build an Efficient Exchange for Small Firms
http://rru.worldbank.org/PapersLinks/Open.aspx?id=7788
World Bank, Public Policy Journal, Issue 315, by JaeHoon Yoo
More than 24 countries operate separate boards and exchanges aimed at small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs). Equity markets play a critical role in fostering economic productivity by financing innovation. But only a few SME exchanges function properly, providing coveted fresh capital and liquidity. What steps are key to building an efficient exchange to provide risk capital for SMEs? Creating an SME-friendly market architecture supported by effective institutions and forging links to policies that foster a new class of investable equities.

Women in business
http://www.gemconsortium.org/download.asp?fid=478
Women account for more than a third of all the people involved in entrepreneurial activities in the world, contributing greatly to the international entrepreneurship spirit. This report is the second in a series of publications aiming to provide a comprehensive study of the role played by such women. It provides a cross-national assessment of women’s business activity in 35 countries. The study also provides an analysis of the key characteristics of female entrepreneurial activity and how their approach to business may differ to that of their male counterparts.

World Bank sees business climate as main tool for SME support

New World Bank research findings break away from the traditional view that subsidizing small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) fosters growth and poverty alleviation. Researchers Beck and Demirgüç-Kunt recommend that countries focus on improving the overall business climate for all firms, while also expanding access to finance for SMEs. ''Policymakers in developing countries are very interested in helping the SME sector and the World Bank is often involved in designing SME strategies," says Asli Demirgüç-Kunt, Senior Research Manager (Finance) at the World Bank, ''Our research takes a much-needed look at the effect of SMEs on development, their growth constraints, and policies to overcome these constraints-areas inadequately researched until now.'' http://econ.worldbank.org