Kosta, B. and Williams, C.C. orcid.org/0000-0002-3610-1933 (2020) Evaluating the effects of the informal sector on the growth of formal sector enterprises: lessons from Italy. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, 25 (03). 2050019. ISSN 1084-9467
Abstract
This paper evaluates the effect of unregistered and informal sector business ventures on the growth of formal sector enterprises. The hypotheses tested is that formal sector enterprises that have to compete against unregistered or informal sector business ventures suffer from lower levels of performance, measured by annual sales growth, annual employment growth and annual productivity growth. To evaluate this thesis, data is reported from a World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) of 760 enterprises in Italy collected in 2019. The finding is that formal sector enterprises that report competing against unregistered or informal sector business ventures have significantly lower annual sales growth and annual productivity growth than enterprises that do not. The paper concludes by discussing the theoretical and policy implications, along with the limitations of the study and future research required.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
---|---|
Authors/Creators: |
|
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2020 World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd. This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; informal sector; informal economy; informal entrepreneurship; firm performance; Italy |
Dates: |
|
Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Management School (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 08 Oct 2020 12:17 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jan 2022 12:12 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | World Scientific Pub Co Pte Lt |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1142/s1084946720500193 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:166468 |