Business Development Services: A Framework for Analysis
By Lara Goldmark (12/96, MIC-101, En, Es) See also Microenterprise
Business development services (BDS) were highlighted as an area for future work in the Inter-American Development Bank?s micro-enterprise development strategy paper, MICRO 2001, which was presented at the Promoting Growth With Equity Conference in November 1995. Since the Bank?s experience in this area is lim-ited, the Microenterprise Unit undertook in January 1996 to investigate current practices in the provision of BDS to small and microentrepreneurs in developing countries around the world. Business Development Services: A Framework for Analysis pres-ents the preliminary results of the research, in the form of a matrix which categorizes current BDS initiatives by targeted business activities and service delivery mechanisms.
The examples used in the framework were gathered from a variety of sources, including project proposals, reports, and evaluations; studies of a related nature, and interviews with practitioners. Rather than ?ħbest practices,?° the BDS initiatives described here are intended to reflect the current state of affairs in the field. The examples used here represent only a fraction of those collected during the course of the research. The Microenterprise Unit will be compiling one-page profiles of BDS programs in Latin America and the Caribbean. This information will constitute a database available to Bank staff and possibly to outside institutions through an internet connection.
Further research will focus on unearthing examples that reflect local, self-sustaining approaches to BDS, as well as donor-sup-ported projects that use innovative cost-recovery mechanisms. Several programs will be used as case studies, which would form the basis for a discussion of cost-recovery and long-term sus-t-ainability in BDS.
Last updated: 05/08/07
