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World Bank Enterprise Survey 2009-2023

Nepal, 2009 - 2023
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Reference ID
NPL_2009-2013-2023_WBES_v01_M
Producer(s)
World Bank Group (WBG)
Metadata
Documentation in PDF DDI/XML JSON
Study website
Created on
Jan 22, 2025
Last modified
Jan 29, 2025
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  • Identification
  • Scope
  • Coverage
  • Producers and sponsors
  • Sampling
  • Survey instrument
  • Data collection
  • Data processing
  • Data Access
  • Disclaimer and copyrights
  • Contacts
  • Metadata production

    • Identification

    Survey ID number

    NPL_2009-2013-2023_WBES_v01_M
    Title

    World Bank Enterprise Survey 2009-2023
    Abbreviation or Acronym

    WBES 2009-2023
    Country
    Name Country code
    Nepal NPL
    Study type

    Enterprise Survey [en/oth]
    Series Information

    As part of its strategic goal of building a climate for investment, job creation, and sustainable growth, the World Bank has promoted improving business environments as a key strategy for development, which has led to a systematic effort in collecting enterprise data across countries. The Enterprise Surveys are an ongoing World Bank project in collecting both objective data based on firms' experiences and enterprises' perception of the environment in which they operate.

    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 2005-2006, 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 are used to create indicators that benchmark the quality of the business and investment climate across countries.
    Abstract

    The World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy's private sector. The surveys cover a broad range of topics related to the business environment including access to finance, corruption, infrastructure, competition, and performance.
    Kind of Data

    Sample survey data [ssd]
    Unit of Analysis

    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.

    Scope

    Notes

    The 2009, 2013, and 2023 Nepal World Bank Enterprise Survey (panel) covered the following topics:

    • General information of a firm/ establishment
    • Infrastructure and services
    • Sales and supplies
    • Commercial disputes (2023)
    • Management practices (2023)
    • Degree of competition
    • Innovation (2013 and 2023 ES)
    • Capacity (2013 and 2023 ES)
    • Land and permits
    • Crime (2009 and 2013 ES)
    • Green economy (2023)
    • Finance
    • Business-Government relations
    • Labor
    • Business environment
    • Performance

    Coverage

    Geographic Coverage

    National coverage
    Universe

    The universe of inference includes all formal (i.e., registered) private sector businesses (with at least 1% private ownership) and with at least five employees. In terms of sectoral criteria, all manufacturing businesses (ISIC Rev 4. codes 10-33) are eligible; for services businesses, those corresponding to the ISIC Rev 4 codes 41-43, 45-47, 49-53, 55-56, 58, 61-62, 69-75, 79, and 95 are included in the Enterprise Surveys. Cooperatives and collectives are excluded from the Enterprise Surveys.

    Producers and sponsors

    Primary investigators
    Name
    World Bank Group (WBG)
    Funding Agency/Sponsor
    Name Abbreviation
    World Bank Group WBG

    Sampling

    Sampling Procedure

    The WBES use stratified random sampling, where the population of establishments is first separated into non-overlapping groups, called strata, and then respondents are selected through simple random sampling from each stratum. The detailed methodology is provided in the Sampling Note (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Sampling_Note-Consolidated-2-16-22.pdf). Stratified random sampling has several advantages over simple random sampling. In particular, it:

    • produces unbiased estimates of the whole population or universe of inference, as well as at the levels of stratification
    • ensures representativeness by including observations in all of those categories
    • produces more precise estimates for a given sample size or budget allocation, and
    • may reduce implementation costs by splitting the population into convenient subdivisions.

    The WBES typically use three levels of stratification: industry classification, establishment size, and subnational region (used in combination).
    Response Rate

    The response rate for the 2009 Enterprise survey was 95%.
    The response rate for the 2013 Enterprise survey was 97%.
    The response rate for the 2023 Enterprise survey was 88.2%.

    Survey instrument

    Questionnaires

    The standard WBES questionnaire covers several topics regarding the business environment and business performance. These topics include general firm characteristics, infrastructure, sales and supplies, management practices, competition, innovation, capacity, land and permits, finance, business-government relations, exposure to bribery, labor, and performance. Information about the general structure of the questionnaire is available in the Enterprise Surveys Manual and Guide (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Enterprise-Surveys-Manual-and-Guide.pdf).

    Data collection

    Dates of Data Collection
    Start End Cycle
    2009-03-08 2009-06-15 ES 2009
    2013-02-04 2013-06-14 ES 2013
    2023-05 2023-08 ES 2023
    Mode of data collection
    • Face-to-face [f2f]
    Data Collection Notes

    Detailed information on the WBES methodology and data collection is provided in the Enterprise Surveys Manual and Guide (https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/content/dam/enterprisesurveys/documents/methodology/Enterprise-Surveys-Manual-and-Guide.pdf).

    • The interviews for the Nepal 2009 WBES were conducted between March 2009 and June 2009.
    • The interviews for the Nepal 2013 WBES were conducted between February 2013 and June 2013.
    • The interviews for the Nepal 2023 WBES were conducted between May 2023 and August 2023.

    Data processing

    Data Processing
    Description
    The Enterprise Surveys panel datasets have the following common format: • Variable panel allows easy identification of panel observations • Variable panelid is the same across the waves for the same firm • Variable eligibility reports eligibility status of all firms interviewed in the previous wave as of the of the latest wave - e.g. in 2013-2023 panel, eligibility2023 reports status as of 2023 of all firms interviewed in 2013 • Variable status reports the status of eligible firms as to whether they have been selected in the sample to be interviewed or the interview was a refusal. • Wherever possible variables are matched across waves. If needed, matches are made by converting variable names in older waves to variable names in the most recent wave • Due to methodological changes and evolution of the survey instrument it is not possible to match all variables in the datasets • Variables that are not matched across waves are named as __, with the year in which the variable was collected (e.g. _2013_date) • It is recommended that users thoroughly familiarize themselves with the questionnaires from each of the years contained in the dataset before proceeding with analysis • Some monetary unit variables in 2002 and 2005 surveys (in US currency) are converted into the local currency units (LCU) using the market, period average, exchange rates. The sources of the exchange rates are the International Financial Statistics (IFS - IMF) websites. • Weights are representative of the universe for the year that the firm was interviewed. They are not panel weights.

    Data Access

    Citation requirements

    The World Bank Group. Nepal - World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) 2009-2023, Ref. NPL_2009-2013-2023_WBES_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from https://www.enterprisesurveys.org/en/data on [date].

    Disclaimer and copyrights

    Disclaimer

    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

    Contacts
    Name Affiliation Email
    Enterprise Analysis Unit World Bank Group enterprisesurveys@worldbank.org

    Metadata production

    DDI Document ID

    DDI_NPL_2009-2013-2023_WBES_v01_M_WB
    Producers
    Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
    Development Data Group DECDG World Bank Documentation of the study
    Date of Metadata Production

    2025-01-20

    Metadata version

    DDI Document version

    Version 01 (January 2025)
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