Small and medium-sized enterprises play an important role in economic growth and employment in developing countries. According to OCDE (2004), SMEs account for about 60% of GDP and over 70% of total employment in low-income countries. As such, SMEs emerge as key instruments in poverty reduction. However, these enterprises present generally low level of productivity and survival rate. Therefore, to tape into the potential of SMEs for income and employment growth, identifying factors that can sustainably raise productivity is critical for policymaking. This study develops a tool to assess the extent of adoption of better management practices within SMEs in Burkina Faso. More specifically, the study seeks to address the following questions: To what extent management practices affect the performances of SMEs in Burkina Faso? What is the effect of the level of market competitiveness on the incentive of firms to adopt better management practices?
A structured questionnaire will be designed to capture various aspects of management practices. In each enterprise, a senior manager will be interviewed. Bloom and Van Reenen (2007) provided a survey tool that evaluates firm management practices based on 18 key aspects grouped into four categories. Similar tool is used by Nemlioglu and Mallick (2017) in their study on the relationship between management practices and firm performance in the United Kingdoms. This study adapts this survey tool to the context of Burkina Faso.
By developing a broader approach to capture various aspect of management (human resource, planning), this study will contribute to shed light on the importance for policymakers to associate training supply in managerial practices to the financial support in order to enhance the contribution of SMEs to national economic growth and employment.
