The Rural Enterprise Study (RES)

The Rural Enterprise Study (RES) is an attempt to facilitate Punjab Small Industries Corporation (PSIC) to redefine its role as a business incubator/ coordinator that helps small firms in rural areas to improve their productivity and grow in size and scale. The RES is closely linked with research conducted by the International Growth Center (IGC) Pakistan and LUMS that are already engaged with PSIC on two projects. The first is an ongoing IGC-funded project, titled “Development of an electronic database of Industrial and Commercial Activity and a Spatial Analysis of Small and Cottage Industries in Punjab, Pakistan”, and the second is the upcoming “PSIC Diagnostic Study”. These studies with the eventual objective of producing a panel data set that serves as a quantitative tool to inform industrial policy across the Punjab.

Objectives of this study were to identify constraints and facilitate growth of small businesses, which in turn would contribute to overall economic growth. With a strong buy-in/ traction from PSIC and the Planning and Development Department (P&DD) of the Punjab Government, this study is also in line with the IGC Pakistan’s current research priorities and will help deepen its involvement in the Industrial Sector in the Punjab.

This study was financed by the IGC (2016).

Key Output(s)

Report: The Rural Enterprise Study