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Latin America and the Caribbean

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.

Tax Compliance Cost Surveys: Using Data to Design Targeted Reforms (February 2010)

A tax compliance cost survey can provide useful information for the design of reforms to reduce compliance costs and risks for small businesses. This note highlights key findings of tax compliance cost surveys conducted in South Africa, the Republic of Yemen, Ukraine, and Peru that measured the burdens on business. These surveys helped fine-tune the design of reforms to lower costs for businesses and improve their competitiveness.

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.