Please use this form to submit your study for inclusion into our database. It will be checked by a member of the Innovation Growth Lab team, who may be in contact to ask for more information. Your email address * Your name * Title * The name of the study Short summary Examines the differential impacts of group management consulting versus individualised management consulting on firm performace in Colombia, and whether management practices are partially responsible for the gap in firm productivity in developing countries. Results forthcoming. A brief description of the project's goals and its current state Abstract <p>This study aims to analyze the effectiveness of group and individualized business consulting services for firms in developing countries in terms of improved scalability and cost-effectiveness as a means to improve innovation. The researchers are conducting a randomised field experiment in Colombia that analyzes the effects of two different business consulting interventions on small to medium-sized enterprises. Effects will be measured across numerous indicators of business performance.</p> The full abstract of the study, if available Links https://www.socialscienceregistry.org/trials/528 Links to any published papers and related discussions Authors * Affiliations Academic and other institutes that the authors of the study are members of Delivery partner Organisations involved in delivering the trial, if appropriate Year Year Year199419951996199719981999200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026 Month MonthJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec Day Day12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031 Journal Journal publishing the study, if available Publication stage * Working Paper Published Ongoing Research Forthcoming Discussion Paper Research theme * Entrepreneurship Innovation Business Growth Country Country or countries where this study took place. Topics What sort of topics does the study cover? Sample attributes Hypotheses / research question Can a scalable, cost-effective approach to closing the gap in management practices between developing and more developed countries can be implemented? What is the impact of closing this management gap on firm productivity and profitability? Sample Trial population and sample selection Researchers first performed a firm diagnostic and subsequently selected 159 Colombian firms with 10 or more workers. Researchers then formed matched triplets of firms, choosing this grouping in a way that minimised the Mahalanobis distance between firms in a triplet in terms of their geographic location, size, labour productivity, and management practices. This took place in November 2013. Then within each triplet, firms were randomly allocated to a control group and two treatment groups. Each group consists of 53 firms. Number of treatment groups Size of treatment groups 53 firms in individual consulting treatment; 53 firms in group consulting treatment Size of control group Unit of analysis Clustered? Yes No Cluster details Trial attributes Treatment description The two interventions take place over a 6-month period and are intended to improve growth, productivity, and the scope for innovation in these businesses. Individualised treatment: firm receives one-on-one consulting to improve 5 different processes: Logistics, Human Resources, Finance, Marketing and Sales, and Production Group treatment: management improvements will be implemented in a small group setting, analogous to agricultural extension, with firms learning from one another. Rounds of data collection Baseline data collection and method Not available. Data collection method and data collected Evaluation Outcome variables <p>Improvement in management practices. Factory operations: Machine downtime rates, electricity usage, quality defect rates, labour hours. Production levels: Productivity, sales, profitability.</p> Results <p>Not yet available.</p> Intervention costs Not available. Cost benefit ratio Reference McKenzie, D., Iacovone, L., & Maloney, W., 2014. 'Upgrading Management Technology in Colombia'. AEA RCT Registry, October 17. Citation for use in academic references
