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| Assessing markets for BDS: What have we learned so far? Alexandra Miehlbradt, 2002 |
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| Country(ies) | Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Ghana, Indonesia, Nepal, Peru, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, United Republic Of, Thailand |
| Implementing agency(ies) | ILO |
| Date completed | February 2002 |
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Description
The paper draws on the following market assessments: ILO in Thailand, Cambodia, Ghana and Indonesia (2000), GTZ in Nepal(1999), Swisscontact in Bangladesh (2000), Mercy Corps in Azerbaijan (2000), and six market assessments conducted as part of the Performance Measurement Framework field research (2000-2001): CECI/MARD in Nepal, FAIDA in Tanzania,IEDI in Nepal, SEEDS in Sri Lanka, Swisscontact in Peru and Swisscontact in the Philippines.
Summary of results
This Paper reviews common assumtions about service markets in developing countries, in the light of the findings of the market research already carried out. For example, it is commonly assumed that all BDS markets in developing countries are weak. Yet the wide range of levels of market development in the studies indicates that not all markets are weak. Similarly, there does appear to be unmet demand in many BDS markets, particularly for advertising, information and technical training.
While rural service markets were generally weaker, the data indicate that there are exceptions, such as the markets for communications centres and
package/parcel delivery in Indonesia.
The studies show that awareness of BDS varies widely among countries. In some countries such as Thailand and Indonesia, awareness is generally high. In other countries, such as Ghana and Cambodia, awareness is low for many services.
Based on the SEs own assessment of service quality, many BDS markets offer reasonable quality services. However, the data available is biased towards those services that SEs use more. Additional research is needed to assess the quality of services in weaker markets.
SEs most often cited that a service is not needed or not relevant to their businesses as the reason for not using services. Other factors are expense, time and lack of information. The studies show that price is rarely a key criterion in SEs’ choice of service provider. Rather, the factors driving BDS markets tend to be quality characteristics such as providers’ reputation, recommendations from others and the types of services available.
Services
Accounting, Advertising, Advisory and Consulting Services, Bookkeeping, Branding & Labeling, Business Information, Business Travel, Facilitating Business to Business Linkages, Information - Internet, Information - Media, Information on BDS, Internet Access, Management Consulting, Management Training, Market Access, Market Research, Marketing, Product Design/ Development, Tax Services, Technical Training, Telecommunications - Land Lines, Trade Fairs, Transportation and Distribution, Vocational Training
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