Management in Pakistan: First Evidence from Punjab

Abstract

The authors collect data on management practices in the Punjab region of Pakistan (PK-MOPS) following the MOPS approach pioneered by Bloom et al (2013) for US manufacturing plants. Looking across almost 2,000 establishments we find very wide variation in the management score across firms (and areas within Punjab). Pakistan plants have lower average management scores than the US and a higher level of dispersion, suggesting that weakly managed firms exit more slowly in Pakistan. Establishments with higher management scores are significantly more productive, profitable and grow faster. A one standard deviation increase in the management score is associated with 21% higher labor productivity – almost identical to the US. As in other work, well managed firms are larger, more skilled, more likely to export and older. Controlling for these other factors, publicly listed firms have significantly lower management scores that other ownership types, which is different from other countries. This research was funded under the Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) Programme