Business Entry

Outsourcing of Business Registration Activities - Lessons from Experience (April 2010)

Outsourcing has become a recognized feature of industrial and commercial activity around the world. Many countries have outsourced some aspect of business registration, particularly the development and operation of computer systems, but there are some that have gone further. This study has been commissioned by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to explore the extent to which outsourcing has become a recognized feature of business registration, the reasons for this, and the associated benefits, drawbacks, and practical problems. Did business registries outsource any or all of their functions? If so, did the same considerations apply as for the private sector? Were there lessons to be learned from their experience? Responses to these and other questions were received from 53 registries and analyzed in this study.

How Many Stops in a One Stop Shop? (January 2010)

Many governments have introduced one-stop shops as part of their reform of the business registration process. But what is a one-stop shop? Is it like any other shop? Can it really involve just one stop? IFC has commissioned this study to provide some background and possibly a few hints for those contemplating setting up a one-stop shop or improving one that already exists.

Stakeholder Management in Business Registration Reforms - Lessons from 10 Countries (June 2009)

As business environment reforms expand into new areas of public policy, the intense conflicts inherent in reform are better recognized. A particular obstacle to reform lies in the active and passive resistance from stakeholders. This report provides policymakers and their advisers, with a practical set of approaches and strategies for managing stakeholder outcomes to accelerate and sustain business registration reforms. Using case studies from 10 countries, this report examines how diverse stakeholders participated in reforms aimed at reducing the costs, delays and corruption associated with the business registration functions of government. The analysis identifies how reformers can purposefully “manage” stakeholders to expand and sustain the capacity for change within the political economy.

Understanding and Improving Data on Entrepreneurship and Active Companies - Annex 1 (June 2008)

This paper examines the quality of the data in the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Database (WBGED). The analysis concludes that despite the tremendous benefits and appeal of an international database of new company formation, the data in its current form is not fit for policy analysis and monitoring and evaluation purposes. The paper concludes by providing recommendations which may help countries, over time, to improve the quality of business registries and thus the quality and comparability of the WBGED data.

Understanding and Improving Data on Entrepreneurship and Active Companies - Report (June 2008)

This paper examines the quality of the data in the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Database (WBGED). The analysis concludes that despite the tremendous benefits and appeal of an international database of new company formation, the data in its current form is not fit for policy analysis and monitoring and evaluation purposes. The paper concludes by providing recommendations which may help countries, over time, to improve the quality of business registries and thus the quality and comparability of the WBGED data.

How to Encourage Enterprise Formalization in Africa: Some Practical Hints for Policymakers in Africa (June 2007)

What, if anything, can or should policymakers do to encourage enterprise formalization? These are important questions. Some estimates suggest that over 30 percent of output and 70 percent of workers in developing countries are to some degree outside the scope of government regulation. In Africa the figures are even higher.

Improving the system for lodging, processing, storing and providing business registration information in the Fiji Islands (2006)

The aim of this review is to address the following shortcomings, including: • lack of transparency in how the process works, particularly how decisions are made • slow processing of applications, with company registration taking upwards of 20 working days to complete • poor security of registry information, resulting in lost documentation and incomplete registry files • inability of other government and private sector users to access registry information in a timely and user-friendly way • out-of-date British-based legislation that is inconsistent with modern business registration practice.