Business Development Services and Small Business Growth in Bangladesh

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1 Universal Journal of Industrial and Business Management 1(2): 54-61, 2013 DOI: /ujibm htt:// Business Develoment Services and Small Business Growth in Bangladesh Md. Serazul Islam School of Business, Bangladesh Oen University, Bangladesh *Corresonding Author: Coyright 2013 Horizon Research Publishing All rights reserved. Abstract The study aimed at measuring the magnitude of business develoment services (BDS) and their imacts on the growth of the small businesses. Growth in equity caital, growth in roduction, growth in emloyment, growth in sales, and growth in rofit were used as measures of small business growth. In order to collect the required rimary data, the samled 120 small entrereneurs were interviewed with a semi-structured interview schedule. The hyotheses framed with regard to the imact, extent, and sources of BDS were tested by using chi-square statistic and t-statistic. The results of the study reveal a significant ositive imact BDS on the small business growth in Bangladesh. The study also claims that small business growth relates linearly with the extensiveness of BDS and the growth of small businesses received BDS from ublic suorting institution is higher than that of the small businesses received BDS from rivate suorting institution. Keywords Bangladesh, BDS, Growth, Small business 1. Introduction In the 90's, the Committee of Donor Agencies for Small Enterrise Develoment (CDASED) coined the term Business Develoment Services (BDS) to relace the term 'non-financial services. The 2001 BDS guide defines BDS consisting of oerational and strategic business services as: Services that imrove the erformance of the enterrise, its access to markets, and its ability to comete. Oerational services refer to those services needed for day to day oerations, such as information and communications, management of accounts and tax records, and other services. The strategic services are those services used by businesses to address medium and long term issues in order to imrove business erformance, market access, and cometitiveness. According to McVay and Miehlbradt (2001), BDS refer to a wide array of services designed to address the non-financial constraints such as lack of education, inadequate technical skills, oor access to markets, lack of information and unreliable infrastructure. In a study, Goldmark (1996) stated that since the mid-1970s donor agencies in addition to the financial services have been roviding the BDS in the forms of training, technology transfer, marketing assistance, business advice, mentoring, and information for entrereneurial activities. These services have traditionally been called non-financial services and have generally been rovided in ackages along with other financial and non-financial services (Goldmark, 1996). Dawson and Jean (1998) and Dawson et al. (2002) exlained BDS as a range of non financial services including training and skill develoment; technical and managerial assistance; develoing, adating and romoting new technology; assessing markets and giving market suort; roviding a hysical infrastructure and advocating olicy. Kahan (2006) defined BDS as the activities including grou training, individual counseling and advice, the develoment of new commercial entities, technology develoment and transfer, information rovision, business links and olicy advocacy. Versreet and Berlage's (1999) and Chrisman and McMullan (2004) observed that BDS to small businesses could take the form of measures designed to imrove the overall business environment such as the regulatory framework and tax system, infrastructure develoment, and the rovision of non-financial services. Manuh (1988) and Wren and Storey (2002) treated BDS as software including the rovision of information and advice, counseling and consultancy, training and education, encouragement of artnershi and gateway services. With resect to small business develoment, Carney (1998) made a classification of BDS into four different categories: hysical (rovision of infrastructure such as water, electricity and industrial sites); social (develoing business linkages, networks, clusters, business associations and cooeratives); natural (romotion of the sustainable use of natural resources, recycling, ollution reduction and the waste disosal); and human caital (rovision of training, advice, counseling, consultancy, entrereneurshi and business management). According to Ramsden and Bennett (2005) and Lambretch and Pirnay (2005) the BDS of many countries might fall into social and human caital assets. Businesses need an enormous range of services. Most of these are rovided by the ublic and rivate suorting

2 Universal Journal of Industrial and Business Management 1(2): 54-61, institutions such as Banks, Non-bank financial institutions, Non Government Organizations (NGOs), Cororations, etc. Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Cororation (BSCIC), an autonomous cororation under the Ministry of Industries of Bangladesh, with its industrial estates and training institute-small & Cottage Industries Training Institute (SCITI), has been roviding BDS for the develoment of small and cottage industries (SCI) in Bangladesh since Micro Industries Develoment Assistance and Services (MIDAS), a romotional organization in the rivate sector, was set u in 1982 with the objective of suorting the develoment of micro, small, and medium businesses in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, the BDS rovided to the small businesses is comrised hardly of the hysical or infrastructural suort services. Most of the rivate agencies including MIDAS are utting more emhasis on the financial and human caitals. The following Table exhibits the tyes of BDS rovided by BSCIC and MIDAS: Table 1. Business Develoment Services Provided by BSCIC and MIDAS Tyes of Develoment Services BSCIC MIDAS Project identification Feasibility study Registration facility - Industrial lots/land/shed - Project roosal rearation & araisal Training (entrereneurshi develoment, marketing, finance, etc.) Utility (ower, gas, water, etc.) facility - Technical/market information Product design/ marketing Pre and ost investment counseling Credit arrangement Motivation - Source: Comiled from the relies of the resondents and from annual reorts. The definition of small business varies country to country and between times in the same country. In Bangladesh, there is no unique definition of small business. On 26 May 2008, the Agricultural Credit and Secial Programs Deartment (ACSPD) of Bangladesh Bank in a circular (No.8) defined small business as shown in Table 2. Table 2. Definition of Small Business Given by Bangladesh Bank Tye of Business Fixed Assets (excluding land and building) Criteria Trading Tk..05 million to Tk. 5 million Manufacturing Tk..05 million to Tk.15 million Service Tk..05 million to Tk. 5 million Source: Bangladesh Bank Circular No.8, May 26, 2008 No. of Emloyee (full time) Maximum 25 Maximum 50 Maximum 25 In measuring the business growth, Esim (2001) used a number of direct and indirect indicators. The direct business growth indicators, as he mentioned, were increase in net income, number of emloyees and quantities of inuts urchased, and roducts and services sold. Indirect business growth indicators, on the other hand, included increased access to formal sector services or access to information and extension services. In the context of the resent study, BDS are defined as those non-financial services offered to small entrereneurs at various stages for the entry, survival, and growth of their businesses. Growth refers to the gradual develoment of enterrises. After start-u enterrises start growing in terms of oerations. Five measures of small business growth were also emloyed in the study: growth in equity, growth in roduction, growth in emloyment; growth in sales; and growth in rofit. Average growth in equity caital was calculated as follows: Amount of equity caital in 2010 Amount of equity caital when received services No. of years the services were used The average growths of other measures were calculated as above using resective figures. The growth of small enterrises deends almost on the business develoment services. An entrereneur with high intensive financial suorts often fails to imrove his business osition if he lacks BDS like training and counseling. At home and abroad, a large number of studies were carried out on small and medium enterrise financing, and entrereneurshi and small enterrise develoment. Few studies focused on the imortance of the BDS but no secific studies were conducted on the comarative assessment of the small business growth in Bangladesh caused by different volume and sources of BDS. The resent study has, therefore, been undertaken to abridge the ga keeing the following secific objectives in mind: a) Exloring tyes of BDS as rovided by the selected suorting institutions; b) Determining the degree to which BDS are associated with small business growth; and c) Measuring the extent of small business growth caused by the magnitude and sources of BDS. 2. Review of Previous Studies Over the last decade, the small enterrise develoment services esecially financial services for women in the form of credit and savings have gained rominence around the world. These services have increasingly been rovided on a cost-effective basis by financially sustainable institutions. Yet, eole working in the field of small enterrise develoment recognize that financial services have not resulted in business growth for small businesses. A recent USAID review of 32 research and evaluation reorts suggests that few businesses with financial services exerience sustained growth, while a majority grows a little and then even out (Sebstad and Chen, 1996). In another cross-country study, Hulme and Mosley (1996)

3 56 Business Develoment Services and Small Business Growth in Bangladesh reort that credit did not trigger growth in terms of an increase in technical sohistication, outut or emloyment. While some emloyment growth is observed among family members of borrowers, the emloyment imact outside the family has been small (Dawson and Jeans, 1997). In the continuing search for stimulating business growth among small businesses, small enterrise develoment secialists increasingly turn to BDS. Tecson, Valcareel, & Nunez (1989) identified a low but ositive relationshi among total sales, roductivity, and suort services received from government suorting institutions. Using multile regressions, it was reorted that rofitability was determined by take-u of government suort among other factors. In their studies in Bangladesh, Mannan (1993); Mahiuddin et al. (1998); Rahman & Jamal (2001); Karim (2001); Rahman (2002); Ahmed (2003); Jahur & Azad (2004); Mintoo (2006:27); and Islam (2010) found that the growth of small businesses are constrained by factors such as low levels of education, lack of business knowledge & exerience, marketing roblems, administrative obligations, lack of information, weak infrastructure, etc. BDS aim to address these constraints through training, consulting, marketing services, business information, romotion of business to business linkages, and other non-financial services. The studies of Van (1998) indicate that the small-scale businesses (SSE) would roser if they are suorted by BDS focusing on the eculiar roblems of SSE. The use of BDS has been recognized by both academics and olicy makers as one of the methods which can be used to imrove the erformance of small businesses (Bennett and Robson, 1999; Massey, 2003; Chrisman and McMullan, 2004; and Ramsden and Bennett, 2005). However, there are other researchers who have found little or no evidence between the use of BDS and the erformance of small businesses (Storey, 1994; Manu, 1999; Hjalmarsson and Johansson, 2003; Mambula, 2004). BDS can hel micro businesses solve their roblems by facilitating access to markets, imroving the availability of less exensive or higher quality inuts, introducing new or imroved technologies and roducts, imroving management and technical skills, ameliorating or eliminating olicy constraints, and heling businesses access aroriate financing mechanisms (Esim, 2001). Netswera (2001) argued that the systematic external suort services rovided by the governments to the small businesses had layed a significant role in the raid growth of the economies in the South-East Asian countries such as the South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Saleh (1995) found most of the selected women entrereneurs with small business management training and without rior exerience and formal education in business, became successful in small business management and many of them were successful in terms of sales, rofitability and number of emloyees. He urged the suorting institutions to rovide the women entrereneurs with secial counseling so that they could overcome their roblems. The results of the study made by Rosa (1997) showed that the businesses received suort services exerienced significantly higher growth in sales, emloyment, and roductivity. The better erformance of the suorted businesses might well be attributable to the suorts received by those businesses because the grous comared were matched in terms of emloyment size, nature of business, ownershi tye, and roduction rocesses emloyed. The study revealed an overall significant difference between the erformance of small businesses receiving limited suort services and small businesses receiving extensive suort services. The study, however, failed to conclude that the better erformance of the suorted businesses is the result of suort services only. In examining the effectiveness of suort services of non government organizations (NGOs) for the romotion of micro businesses, Mia (2000) found NGOs BDS ineffective in generating business ideas, validating business ideas and develoing commitment. While the financial and BDS were considered together, the suort services were found effective in romoting micro businesses. He, therefore, urged the NGOs to rovide full ackage of sufficient financial and required BDS after assessing their romotional need at various hases of romotion. 3. Research Hyotheses The small business growth through ublic and rivate BDS is central to the theoretical develoment and to the subsequent hyotheses because the relative growth of small business calculates on the corresonding change in BDS. A few studies have addressed the association between these two variables and have found significant differences between the volume and sources of BDS. Based on the literature review and subject to the objectives of the resent study, the following hyotheses were formulated and tested: Hyothesis 1: Hyothesis 2: Hyothesis 3: Business develoment services have a significant ositive imact on small business growth. The growth of small businesses received extensive business develoment services is significantly higher than that of the businesses received limited business develoment services. The growth of small businesses received business develoment services from ublic suorting institution is significantly higher than that of the businesses suorted by rivate suorting institution. 4. Study Materials and Methods The resent study was descritive in nature. The rocedures followed in carrying out the study were as

4 Universal Journal of Industrial and Business Management 1(2): 54-61, follows: Tyes and Sources of Data The tyes of data used in the study covered both rimary and secondary data. The sources of rimary data used in the study were the owners, artners, and managing directors of the samle businesses. The sources of secondary data comrised of books, articles, journals, annual reorts, website, unublished PhD theses, research reorts, and other ublications. Data Collection Instrument An interview schedule was reared and used as an instrument of collecting rimary data from the samle entrereneurs. For assessing the validity, the content validity in articular, the interview schedule was given final shae by (i) reviewing related literature extensively; (ii) taking oinion from research exerts; and (iii) conducting ilot surveys on 15 entrereneurs (not included in the samle). Primary data were collected by face-to-face interview and telehone interview methods. Secondary data were amassed by desk research by using different websites and libraries. Samling Design In Bangladesh, there is no u-to-date baseline information on the total number of suorting institutions and their suorted small businesses. It was, therefore, difficult to select a suitable samling frame and samle. Sheherd and Zacharakis (1999) suggest as a rule of thumb that a samle size greater than 50 is normally sufficient. In the resent study, a total of 120 small entrereneurs from 6 districts of 2 divisions, who took BDS from the leading two suorting institutions-bscic and MIDAS, constituted the samle. The samle of resondents was selected using multi-stage random samling technique. In Bangladesh, the absence of reresentative samle in small business research is a major imetus to data. None of the earlier Bangladeshi studies (Begum, 1993; Saleh, 1995; Kabir, 2004; and other studies) examined the reresentativeness of their samles. The research findings, however, were indiscriminately generalized to all small businesses in the country. In the resent study, the number of oulation is infinite. The extent of reresentativeness, therefore, can not be examined by using a chi-square goodness of fit test. However, as the nature and activities of the samle small businesses were almost similar to those of the homogeneous small businesses all over Bangladesh, the results found in the study could be generalized. Data Processing and Analysis The collected data were verified to ensure that the resondents answered all relevant questions and that no answers were missing. The s of the variables were coded by numerical figures and the numerical coded numbers were given inut for analysis of the data using ersonal comuter. Data were then analyzed by using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS), version 11.5, develoed by Nie et al. (1975). The hyotheses framed with regard to the imact, extent, and sources of BDS were tested by using the non-arametric and arametric statistical tools-chi-square statistic and t-statistic. 5. Results and Discussion This section deals with evaluating the role of the selected suorting institutions BDS on small business growth in Bangladesh. Hyothesis Testing-Imact of BDS on Small Business Growth Hyothesis 1: Business develoment services have a significant ositive imact on small business growth. Table 3. Business Develoment Services and Small Business Growth Small Business Growth Variables Growth in Equity Growth in Production Growth in Emloyment Growth in Sales Growth in Profit Business develoment services < < N.S < <.10 Note: N.S means not significant Source: Field Survey during May to December 2010.

5 58 Business Develoment Services and Small Business Growth in Bangladesh The results ( and ) rove that BDS had a significant ositive imact on the growth of equity caital, roduction, sales, and rofit. The results, however, disclose that statistically there existed no imact of BDS on the growth in emloyment, as evidenced by. The result became so because the BDS esecially the training enabled the entrereneurs to imrove their business efficiency and roduction rocess from manual to automation. The hyothesis that BDS have a significant ositive imact on small business growth is, therefore, artially acceted. Hyothesis Testing-Growth Performance between Businesses Received Extensive BDS and Businesses Received Limited BDS The samle small businesses, received BDS including training, were divided into two grous. The first grou consisted of the businesses received at best 3 BDS (limited) of the listed 12 services (see Table 1) and another grou which received at least 4 BDS (extensive). Hyothesis 2: The growth of small businesses received extensive business develoment services is significantly higher than that of the businesses received limited business develoment services. Table 4 shows that the businesses received extensive BDS achieved significantly higher growth in equity and roduction than the businesses received limited BDS. The data in the Table also shows that the businesses which received extensive BDS attained higher growth in emloyment, sales, and rofit comared to that of the businesses which got limited BDS. In the study, Sarder (2000:230) found that extensive assistance seems to have a significant effect on growth in sales and emloyment. The finding above has significant olicy imlication for the small business sector. It can be said that by offering more BDS, the equity caital and roduction can be increased in the small business sector as significant differences were evident in equity and roduction growth in the above analysis. Thus, the hyothesis that the growth of small businesses received extensive BDS is significantly higher than that of the businesses received limited BDS, was artially acceted. Hyothesis Testing-Growth between Public and Private Institutions Suorted Businesses The samle businesses were divided into two grous. The first grou consisted of the businesses which received BDS from BSCIC- a ublic suorting institution, while another grou of businesses received BDS from MIDAS- a rivate suorting institution. To examine if there was any significant difference in the growth erformance between these two grous of businesses, the following hyothesis was tested: Hyothesis 3: The growth in the erformance of small businesses received suort services from ublic suorting institution is significantly higher than that of the businesses suorted by rivate suorting institution. Table 4. BDS Test for Significance of Differences between the Growth Performances of Businesses Received Extensive BDS and Businesses Received Limited Growth Measures Mean Value of t statistic EBDS 1 LBDS 2 d.f Growth in equity (million Tk.) ** Growth in roduction (million unit) * Growth in emloyment (unit) Growth in sales (million Tk.) Growth in rofit (million Tk.) Businesses received extensive BDS. 2 Businesses received limited BDS. ** Significant at the 0.01 level * Significant at the 0.10 level

6 Universal Journal of Industrial and Business Management 1(2): 54-61, Table 5. Test for Significance of Differences in Growth Performance between Public and Private Institutions Suorted Businesses Growth Measures Mean Value of t-statistic d.f PuSI 1 PrSI 2 Growth in equity (million Tk.) ** Growth in roduction (million unit) * Growth in emloyment (unit) Growth in sales (million Tk.) ** Growth in rofit (million Tk.) * Businesses received BDS from ublic suorting institution. 2 Businesses received BDS from rivate suorting institution. ** Significant at the 0.01 level * Significant at the 0.05 level The results of testing the hyothesis are resented in Table 5. The hyothesis was acceted since the businesses suorted by ublic suorting institution achieved significantly higher growth in almost all growth measures than the businesses suorted by rivate suorting institution. In articular, the businesses those received BDS from ublic suorting institution achieved significantly higher growth in equity caital, roduction, sales, and rofit comared to the businesses those received BDS from rivate suorting institution. The ublic suorting institution suorted businesses accomlished higher growth in emloyment but not significant. The findings, therefore, suggest that the BDS, offered by the ublic sector suorting institution, seemed to be more effective than that of the rivate suorting institution. This result is quite reverse of the result of the study of Sarder (2000:234). The reasons for high growth of ublic institution suorted businesses (mostly manufacturing) might be that these businesses had higher start-u caital, business lot in the industrial area, conducive environment, registration facilities, infrastructural facilities including gas, ower, water, drainage, etc. with low service charge, local and international training, motivation, etc. 6. Conclusions The growth of an existing business may deend on different factors including the rofiles of the entrereneurs and their businesses and the BDS. But the resent study was limited to BDS only. It is, therefore, difficult to establish whether the growth of suorted small businesses is due to the direct effects on BDS only. However, based on the overall findings of the resent study, the following conclusions can be drawn: 1. In Bangladesh, suorting institutions BDS layed a significant ositive role in the growth of small business excet its emloyment growth. The increased volume of roduction requires more emloyees but due to the technological imrovement and for being trained by the entrereneurs and their emloyees, the emloyment growth was not significantly occurred. 2. In terms of extensiveness of BDS, extensive suort services seemed to be more effective than limited suort services. The study concludes that the greater the extent of BDS, the higher the financial growth of the suorted businesses. However, the BDS relating to the marketing of roducts and services are to be rovided more to increase the sales. 3. The ublic suorting institution suorted businesses, with start-u and growth services including industrial sheds and infrastructural suorts, achieved significantly higher growth in all selected growth measures than that of the businesses suorted by the rivate suorting institution. REFERENCES [1] ACSPD (2008). Agricultural credit and secial rograms deartment, Bangladesh Bank, Circular No. 8, May 26. [2] Ahmed, M.U. (2003). The small and medium enterrises (SME) in Bangladesh: An overview of the current status. Retrieved from htt:// [3] Begum, R. (1993). Factors affecting growth of women entrereneurshi in Bangladesh. Dhaka University Journal of Business Studies, 14(2), [4] Bennett, R. J. & Robson, P. J. A. (1999). The use of external business advice by SMEs in Britain. Entrereneurshi and Regional Develoment, 11 (2), [5] Carney, D. (1998). Sustainable rural livelihoods. What contribution can we make? London. [6] Chrisman, J. J. & McMullan, W. D. (2004). Outsider assistance as a knowledge resource for new venture survival. Journal of Small Business Management, 42 (3),

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