Business training programs are a popular policy option to try to improve the performance of enterprises\udaround the world. The last few years have seen rapid growth in the number of evaluations of these\udprograms in developing countries. We undertake a critical review of these studies with the goal of\udsynthesizing the emerging lessons and understanding the limitations of the existing research and the\udareas in which more work is needed. We find that there is substantial heterogeneity in the length,\udcontent, and types of firms participating in the training programs evaluated. Many evaluations suffer\udfrom low statistical power, measure impacts only within a year of training, and experience problems\udwith survey attrition and measurement of firm profits and revenues. Over these short time horizons,\udthere are relatively modest impacts of training on survivorship of existing firms, but stronger evidence\udthat training programs help prospective owners launch new businesses more quickly. Most studies find\udthat existing firm owners implement some of the practices taught in training, but the magnitudes of\udthese improvements in practices are often relatively modest. Few studies find significant impacts on\udprofits or sales, although a couple of the studies with more statistical power have done so. Some studies\udhave also found benefits to microfinance organizations of offering training. To date there is little\udevidence to help guide policymakers as to whether any impacts found come from trained firms\udcompeting away sales from other businesses versus through productivity improvements, and little\udevidence to guide the development of the provision of training at market prices. We conclude by\udsummarizing some directions and key questions for future studies.\ud
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