BUSINESS GROWTH IN NEPAL: A SURVEY ANALYSIS BY SIZE, AGE, AND SECTOR

Abstract

This paper studies the relationship of firm performance as measured by increase in sales to different factors like characteristics of establishments; infrastructure; competition and innovation; capacity; land and permits; security (crime); finance; business-government relations; labor and business environment. Using a dataset of an enterprise level survey and a follow up survey in Nepal, I conduct multivariate regression by groups to find significant relationships between few factors denoting characteristics of the firms, sales, innovation, labor, financing and infrastructure in the previous years. I do not find any significant relationship between the age and the growth however. I conclude that though the results are scattered, policies supporting SMEs, manufacturing industries and firms in certain age groups will help their performance over time.