A large share of the poor in developing countries run small enterprises, often earning low incomes. This paper explores whether the poor performance of businesses can be explained by a lack of basic business skills. We randomized the offer of a free, 48-hour business skills course to female entrepreneurs in rural Mexico. We find that those assigned to treatment earn higher profits, have larger ...

most previous laboratory studies of local scour at bridge abutments were performed in rectangular channels in which the distributions of flow velocity and bed shear stress were considered uniform in the transverse direction. in reality however, bridge abutments are usually located in the floodplain zone of rivers where velocity and shear stress distributions are directly affected by the lat...

Abstract Since the 1970s, temporary uses of vacant spaces have become a preferred urban development strategy to revitalise centrally-located neighbourhoods. In housing sector, however, are barely registered as they provide only short-term shelter in buildings shortly before demolition. Therefore, do not secure stable right housing. Switzerland, nevertheless, increasingly gaining momentum segmen...

This paper has presented research in progress concerning the contribution of target costing approach to achievement competitive price in the Iraqi firm. The title of the paper is one of the subjects that get large concerns in the finance and business world in the present time. That is because many competitive firms have appeared in the regional and global markets and the rapid changes that cove...

We show that the presence of sufficiently significant switching costs, which are increasing in the degree of product differentiation, generates an equilibrium configuration with maximal differentiation within the framework of a Hotelling model with linear transportation costs. The equilibrium with maximal differentiation offers a formalization of the idea that competing firms have noncooperativ...

This paper is adapted from a speech given by James Bond at the International Energy Agency, 14 May 1998. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and should not be attributed in any manner to the World Bank, to its affiliated organisations, or to members of its board of executive directors or the countries they represent. The long-term price of oil should rest near its long ru...

This is a theoretical paper in which we attempt to present an economic and sociological theory of entrepreneurship. We start from Schumpeter’s idea in Theory of Economic Development that the economy can be conceptualized as a combination and innovations as new combinations. Schumpeter also spoke of resistance to entrepreneurship. By linking the ideas of combination and resistance, we are in a p...

The environment is the source of many discussions in America’s board rooms. Most of the conversations probably center around cost containment, dealing with new regulations or reacting to unexpected problems. Some conversations may even revolve around how to “cash in” on the public’s concern for the environment. All of these discussions are normal, but also are increasingly becoming outdated. Co...

World-class utilization of manufacturing resources is of vital importance to any manufacturing enterprise in the global competition of today. This requirement calls for superior performance of all processes related to the manufacturing of products. One of these processes is the resetting of machinery and equipment between two product runs, which will be the focus area of this text. This paper e...

The study of profits is important not only because of the information it provides about the health of the economy in any given year, but also because profits are a key determinant of growth and employment in the medium-term. Changes in profitability are an important contributor to economic progress via the influence profits have on the investment and savings decisions of companies. This is beca...