Enterprise Survey 2013
Lebanon, 2013 - 2014
Get MicrodataIdentification
LBN_2013_ES_v02_M
Enterprise Survey 2013
| Name | Country code |
|---|---|
| Lebanon | LBN |
Enterprise Survey [en/oth]
An Enterprise Survey is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy's private sector. Firm-level surveys have been conducted since 1998 by different units within the World Bank. Since 2005-06, most data collection efforts have been centralized within the Enterprise Analysis Unit. The Enterprise Surveys are conducted across all geographic regions and cover small, medium, and large companies. The surveys are administered to a representative sample of firms in the non-agricultural formal private economy. Data is used to create indicators that benchmark the quality of the business and investment climate across countries.
This survey was conducted in Lebanon between April 2013 and September 2014. The survey was a joint initiative of the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Enterprise Survey, which is an enterprise survey that examines firms' perception of the environment they operate in.
The Enterprise Surveys, through interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, capture business perceptions on the biggest obstacles to enterprise growth, the relative importance of various constraints to increasing employment and productivity, and the effects of a country's business environment on its international competitiveness. They are used to create statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries. The Enterprise Surveys are also used to build a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time and allow, for example, impact assessments of reforms.
In Lebanon, data from 561 establishments was analyzed. Stratified random sampling was used to select the surveyed businesses.
The survey topics include firm characteristics, information about sales and suppliers, competition, infrastructure services, judiciary and law enforcement collaboration, security, government policies, laws and regulations, financing, overall business environment, bribery, capacity utilization, performance and investment activities, and workforce composition.
Sample survey data [ssd]
The primary sampling unit of the study is the establishment. An establishment is a physical location where business is carried out and where industrial operations take place or services are provided. A firm may be composed of one or more establishments. For example, a brewery may have several bottling plants and several establishments for distribution. For the purposes of this survey an establishment must make its own financial decisions and have its own financial statements separate from those of the firm. An establishment must also have its own management and control over its payroll.
Version
v02 (August 2015)
- The coding for some observations for variables a3a, a3b, a3c, and a3 was revised after the exact location of establishments was reviewed. These variables cover location of the establishment and the location size.
- Variables from Manufacturing Questionnaire - Innovation Module and Services Questionnaire - Innovation Module were added to the updated dataset.
v02 of the datasets replaced v01, which was published in October 2014.
Scope
The scope of the study includes:
- characteristics of establishments;
- infrastructure and services;
- sales and supplies;
- degree of competition;
- innovation;
- capacity;
- land and permits;
- crime;
- finance;
- business-government relations;
- labor;
- business environment;
- performance.
Coverage
National
Regions covered are selected based on the number of establishments, contribution to employment, and value added. In most cases these regions are metropolitan areas and reflect the largest centers of economic activity in a country.
The whole population, or universe of the study, is the non-agricultural economy. It comprises: all manufacturing sectors according to the group classification of ISIC Revision 3.1: (group D), construction sector (group F), services sector (groups G and H), and transport, storage, and communications sector (group I). Note that this definition excludes the following sectors: financial intermediation (group J), real estate and renting activities (group K, except sub-sector 72, IT, which was added to the population under study), and all public or utilities-sectors.
Producers and sponsors
| Name |
|---|
| World Bank |
| European Bank for Reconstruction and Development |
| European Investment Bank |
| Name |
|---|
| World Bank |
| European Bank for Reconstruction and Development |
| European Investment Bank |
Sampling
The sample for Lebanon was selected using stratified random sampling. Three levels of stratification were used in this country: industry, establishment size, and region.
The universe was stratified into three manufacturing industries (food manufacturing, garment manufacturing, and other manufacturing), and two service industries (retail, and other services).
Size stratification was defined following the standardized definition for the rollout: small (5 to 19 employees), medium (20 to 99 employees), and large (more than 99 employees). For stratification purposes, the number of employees was defined on the basis of reported permanent full-time workers. This seems to be an appropriate definition of the labor force since seasonal/casual/part-time employment is not common practice, except in the sectors of construction and agriculture.
Regional stratification was defined in six regions (city and the surrounding business area) throughout Lebanon: Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, Mount Lebanon, Nabatieh, North Lebanon, and South Lebanon.
The sample frame used for the survey in Lebanon was collated by InfoPro from multiple available sources, including chambers of commerce. For some companies, information about industry and number of employees was unavailable.
The enumerated establishments were then used as the frame for the selection of a sample with the aim of obtaining interviews at 570 establishments with five or more employees.
Given the impact that non-eligible units included in the sample universe may have on the results, adjustments may be needed when computing the appropriate weights for individual observations. The percentage of confirmed non-eligible units as a proportion of the total number of sampled establishments contacted for the survey was 20.4% (447 out of 2,187 establishments).
Survey non-response must be differentiated from item non-response. The former refers to refusals to participate in the survey altogether, while the latter refers to the refusals to answer some specific questions. Enterprise Surveys suffer from both problems and different strategies were used to address these issues.
Item non-response was addressed by two strategies:
a- For sensitive questions that may generate negative reactions from the respondent, such as corruption or tax evasion, enumerators were instructed to collect the refusal to respond as a different option from don’t know.
b- Establishments with incomplete information were re-contacted in order to complete this information, whenever necessary.
Survey non-response was addressed by maximizing efforts to contact establishments that were initially selected for interview. Attempts were made to contact the establishment for interview at different times/days of the week before a replacement establishment (with similar strata characteristics) was suggested for interview. Survey non-response did occur but substitutions were made in order to potentially achieve strata-specific goals.
The number of realized interviews per contacted establishment was 0.26. This number is the result of two factors: explicit refusals to participate in the survey, as reflected by the rate of rejection (which includes rejections of the screener and the main survey) and the quality of the sample frame, as represented by the presence of ineligible units. The number of rejections per contact was 0.29.
For some units it was impossible to determine eligibility because the contact was not successfully completed. Consequently, different assumptions as to their eligibility result in different universe cells' adjustments and in different sampling weights. Three sets of assumptions were considered:
a- Strict assumption: eligible establishments are only those for which it was possible to directly determine eligibility.
b- Median assumption: eligible establishments are those for which it was possible to directly determine eligibility and those that rejected the screener questionnaire or an answering machine or fax was the only response. Median weights are used for computing indicators on the www.enterprisesurveys.org website.
c- Weak assumption: in addition to the establishments included in points a and b, all establishments for which it was not possible to finalize a contact are assumed eligible. This includes establishments with dead or out of service phone lines, establishments that never answered the phone, and establishments with incorrect addresses for which it was impossible to find a new address. Note that under the weak assumption only observed non-eligible units are excluded from universe projections.
Survey instrument
The following survey instruments are available:
- Manufacturing Questionnaire;
- Services Questionnaire.
Data collection
| Start | End |
|---|---|
| 2013-04 | 2014-09 |
| Name |
|---|
| Gallup |
| InfoPro |
Private contractors conduct the Enterprise Surveys on behalf of the World Bank. Due to sensitive survey questions addressing business-government relations and corruption-related topics, private contractors are preferred over any government agency or an organization/institution associated with government, and are hired by the World Bank to collect the data.
The Enterprise Surveys are usually implemented following a two-stage procedure. In the first stage, a screener questionnaire is applied over the phone to determine eligibility and to make appointments; in the second stage, a face-to-face interview takes place with the manager, owner or director of each establishment. All Enterprise Surveys are conducted in the local languages.
The Gallup Organization and InfoPro were hired to implement the Lebanon 2013 Enterprise Survey.
Data processing
Data entry and quality controls are implemented by the contractor and data is delivered to the World Bank in batches (typically 10%, 50% and 100%). These data deliveries are checked for logical consistency, out of range values, skip patterns, and duplicate entries. Problems are flagged by the World Bank and corrected by the implementing contractor through data checks, callbacks, and revisiting establishments.
Access policy
Enterprise Surveys
Enterprise Surveys
https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/Portal/
Cost: None
Depositor information
| Name | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| VP Development Economics and Chief Economist, Enterprise Analysis - WB | World Bank Group |
Data Access
| Is signing of a confidentiality declaration required? | Confidentiality declaration text |
|---|---|
| yes | Confidentiality of the survey respondents and the sensitive information they provide is necessary to ensure the greatest degree of survey participation, integrity and confidence in the quality of the data. Surveys are usually carried out in cooperation with business organizations and government agencies promoting job creation and economic growth, but confidentiality is never compromised. |
The use of the datasets must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the identification of the Primary Investigator (including country name);
- the full title of the survey and its acronym (when available), and the year(s) of implementation;
- the survey reference number;
- the source and date of download (for datasets disseminated online).
Example:
World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank. Lebanon Enterprise Survey (ES) 2013, Ref. LBN_2013_ES_v02_M. Dataset downloaded from [URL] on [date].
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
Contacts
| Name | Affiliation | |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise Analysis Unit | World Bank | enterprisesurveys@worldbank.org |
Metadata production
DDI_LBN_2013_ES_v02_M_WB
| Name | Affiliation | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Development Data Group | World Bank | DDI Documentation |
2014-10-23
Metadata version
v02 (December 2015)
-
The dataset was updated
-
Manufacturing Questionnaire - Innovation Module and Services Questionnaire - Innovation Module were added to Related Materials
-
Lebanon Country Profile 2013 was added to Related Materials
-
v01 (October 2014)