The Importance of Support Services to Small Enterprise in Bangladesh

Substantial money and energy worldwide has been invested in support services for the small- and mid-sized enterprises (SME) sector, as interest has grown in the development of small enterprises (Bolton Committee 1971; Birch 1979; International Labour Organization [ILO] 1992). For example, the World Bank alone has lent over US $3 billion between 1973 and 1989 to foster a healthy growth in this sector in developing countries (Timberg 1992). Despite this interest, evidence suggests that the majority of programs and institutions designed to support small enterprises have reached and assisted only a minority of them (Farbman and Steel 1992). There has also been an ongoing debate over what effect support services have on the development of assisted firms (ILO 1992). The…