The International Initiative for Impact Evaluation (3ie) is an international grant-making NGO promoting evidence-informed development policies and programmes. We are the global leader in funding, producing and synthesising high-quality evidence of what works, for whom, why and at what cost. We believe that better and policy-relevant evidence will make development more effective and improve people's lives. 3ie systematic reviews 3ie systematic reviews appraise and synthesise the available high-quality evidence on the effectiveness of social and economic development interventions in low-and middle-income countries. These reviews follow scientifically recognised review methods, and are peerreviewed and quality assured according to internationally accepted standards. 3ie is providing leadership in demonstrating rigorous and innovative review methodologies, such as using theory-based approaches suited to inform policy and programming in the dynamic contexts and challenges of low-and middle-income countries.
About this reviewBusiness support for small and medium enterprises in low-and middle-income countries: a systematic review, was submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of grant SR5.1180 issued under Systematic Review Window 5. This review is available on the 3ie website. 3ie is publishing this report as received from the authors; it has been formatted to 3ie style. This review has also been published in the Campbell Collaboration Library and is available here.All content is the sole responsibility of the authors and does not represent the opinions of 3ie, its donors or its board of commissioners. Any errors are also the sole responsibility of the authors. Comments or queries should be directed to the corresponding author, Caio Piza, ctpiza@worldbank.org
Plain language summaryMotivation: Large amounts of funding are going towards programmes to support small businesses (Small and Medium Enterprises, or SMEs) in low-and middle-income countries, based on the assumption that those businesses will make profits and generate employment, and thus create economic growth and reduce poverty. However, it is not clear how much evidence exists to show whether those results are occurring and for which groups. This is the first systematic review of the evidence regarding these programmes.Approach: The review looks at measures of SME performance including revenues, profits, and productivity, as well as the firms' ability to generate employment and their labour productivity. We conducted a systematic review of the available quantitative evidence, and also incorporated qualitative studies to better understand the mechanisms at work. We searched for published and unpublished literature, using inclusion criteria according to the study protocol. We critically appraised the studies included, and conducted statistical metaanalysis to gain an overview of the findings and meta-regression to understand heterogeneity.Results: Our study finds that business' support to SMEs improves their performance, their ability to create jobs, ...