Informational Ignorance Barrier to Management Adoption
RCTReview
Firm owners in developing countries fail to adopt high-return modern management practices because they are completely unaware that these operational methods exist or underestimate their economic returns.
Picture this
Imagine a store owner manually keeping track of inventory on loose scraps of paper and losing hours every week, simply because the owner has never seen or heard of a barcode scanner or basic electronic spreadsheet.
What the evidence says
Prior to consulting interventions, firm owners had zero quality measurement systems; initial survey evidence from the BEMMR study confirms the primary non-adoption driver was simple lack of awareness regarding modern manufacturing practices.
- Who was studied
- Large Indian textile manufacturing plants in the BEMMR experiment (median asset value of $13.3 million), alongside microenterprises in Peru and pineapple farmers in Ghana.
- How
- Randomized controlled trial (RCT) field interventions assessing knowledge gaps and consulting uptake.
What to do
Conduct systematic management awareness audits to benchmark operational workflows against modern industry standards.
From the source
"The initial evidence in BEMMR suggests that one major reason is the firms were simply not aware of many modern manufacturing practices."
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