Small Enterprise Survey - Methodology

Micro and Small Enterprise Baseline Survey in Central and Northern Mozambique - Summary of Survey Objectives, Methodology and Contents. Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Directorate of Economics, Republic of Mozambique, 1996

Paper provided by Michigan State University, Department of Agricultural, Food, and Resource Economics in its series Food Security Collaborative Working Papers with number 56020. Justin S. Morrill Hall of Agriculture, 446 West Circle Dr., Rm 202, East Lansing, MI 48824-1039. Web page: http://www.aec.msu.edu/agecon/

This summary provides information about some basic aspects of the survey Procedures, Fieldwork and Data Management and contents of the Survey Instruments. Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) defined as all activities or businesses, employing 50 or fewer people (1-10 workers is Micro and 11-50 is Small), engaged in non-farm and non-livestock, cash (or in-kind) income generating activities. These businesses are usually owned by a single or multiple individuals (members of the same household or not), and are classified in four major types: 1) Manufacturing/Processing of goods for sale; 2) Trade, i.e., purchase and sale of goods; 3) Provision of services; and 4) Fishing and Extraction activities. The general objective of this survey is to improve the knowledge about the Micro and Small Enterprise sector in the urban and rural areas to better direct interventions that promote their growth. Specific objectives include: Estimate the number of MSEs operating in the survey areas, the types of activities that are performed by these MSEs, and their growth rates (identifying which types had the highest growth and the reasons behind it); Identify the structure of the MSE sector, regarding gender, type of ownership, and the employment generated, i.e., how many are owned by women; Assess the contribution and importance of the MSE sector to the household income; and Identify the types of assistance that the MSEs have received and their sources, as well as their future need for technical, managerial and financial assistance, and the general problems (access to inputs, output and credit markets, etc) and problems related to the economic policy environment faced by the MSE sector.