The Enterprise Surveys collect information about the business environment, how it is perceived by individual firms, how it changes over time, and about the various constraints to firm performance and growth.
The full data are available to researchers and include all questions from the surveys
at the firm level (the Web site is a subset of the complete data available here).
To access the complete datasets, you must register with the Enterprise
Analysis Unit (FPDEA) by completing the Enterprise Surveys Data Access Protocol. Users of this data are required
to protect its confidentiality in accordance with World Bank rules governing “strictly
confidential” information. These are discussed on the registration form. Adherence
to these rules will ensure the World Bank Group can continue to conduct these surveys.
Once you have submitted the confidentiality agreement, you will receive an email
confirmation within two business days with access information.
To register, select the protocol that applies to you:
See a
list of countries and surveys
for which data are available.
About the Data
The data are in Stata format and may be converted into other formats such as Excel, SPSS, SAS or Access using a translation program (e.g., Stat/transfer or Dbms).
Because the Enterprise Surveys instrument (questionnaire) has evolved over time
in terms of the questions asked and the way in which the questions are asked, and
because differing country characteristics have dictated country specific questions,
data are offered in 2 formats:
- Standardized: country data are matched to a
standard set of questions. This format allows cross-country comparisons and analysis
but sacrifices those country-specific survey questions which cannot be matched.
The standardized questionnaire is available in English, Portuguese, Spanish, French,
Chinese, and Arabic.
- Country survey: offers the complete survey information
for a particular country's survey. In this format, the question coding is inconsistent
across country surveys, even where the questions are identical, and is useful only
for single country or limited cross-country analysis.
- The earliest available data is from 2002 and the latest is from 2007.
Types of Surveys
The Enterprise Surveys cover mainly manufacturing and certain services for registered firms with greater than 10 workers. Other sectors are covered on a smaller scale, except for the banking sector. These surveys are available to download in both original and standardized formats.
Special topical surveys are sometimes conducted. These include surveys of tourism/hotels, workers, informal firms, and micro-enterprises. These surveys are not conducted for all countries and have not been standardized.
Below are the more recent survey instruments:
The following notes provide guidance:
Aggregate Surveys
There are two types of aggregate surveys:
- Matched comprehensive:
contains those countries that have been matched to the standard instrument.
- Business Environment and Enterprise Productivity surveys
(BEEPS): contains 27 European and Central Asian countries which were surveyed
with the same questionnaire across countries in 2002 and again in 2005 with a similar
questionnaire. In addition, 7 comparator countries beyond the usual 27 were surveyed
in 2005, including six OECD countries.
