Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey

Background

The Business Environment Survey (BEEPS) is a joint initiative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank Group (the World Bank). The survey was first undertaken on behalf of the EBRD and World Bank in 1999 – 2000, when it was administered to approximately 4000 enterprises in 26 countries of Eastern Europe and Central Asia (including Turkey) to assess the environment for private enterprise and business development.

In the second round of the BEEPS, the survey instrument was administered to approximately 6500 enterprises in 27 countries (including Turkey but excluding Turkmenistan) in the year 2002. In the third round of the BEEPS, the survey included approximately 9,500 enterprises in 28 countries in the year 2005. In seven of the countries the survey also included an additional sampling overlay of the manufacturing sector in addition to the main BEEPS sample. Furthermore, to set a benchmark for the transition countries, a survey of comparator countries was conducted in 2004-2005 in two rounds.

In the fourth round of the BEEPS in 2008-2009, the survey covered approximately 11,800 enterprises in 29 countries (including Mongolia for the first time). The survey was restructured to improve cross-country comparability and to make it compatible with the Enterprise Surveys the Enterprise Analysis Unit of the World Bank has been implementing in the past two years in other regions of the world.

The objective of the survey is to obtain feedback from enterprises in EBRD countries of operation on the state of the private sector as well as to help in building a panel of enterprise data that will make it possible to track changes in the business environment over time. The survey examines the quality of the business environment as determined by a wide range of interactions between firms and the state and as such facilities research and serves as an input into policy dialogue with countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

BEEPS has been supported by various donors over time, including the Taiwan Business - EBRD TC Fund, EBRD - Canadian Technical Cooperation Fund 2006-2009 (BEEPS IV) and the Japan Europe Cooperation Fund and the Multi-donor Fund for the Early Transition Countries (BEEPS III).

Accessing and using the BEEPS dataset

For the details of the sample characteristics of each round of the survey, please follow the links to the respective report on sampling and implementation.

BEEPS 2009 data

The following datasets are versions as of April 30, 2010. They replace the earlier versions of October 30, 2009. Changes include: scale reversal in J.1 and additional data and weights for Poland, new weights for Slovak Republic, additional data and weights for Russia.

Questionnaires: Core module (441KB - PDF) Manufacturing module (521KB - PDF) Services module (472KB - PDF)  
Report on sampling and implementation

(2MB - PDF)BEEPS dataset: Stata 10 format (16MB - DTA) Stata 9 format (15MB - DTA) Excel 2007 format (8MB - XLSX) CSV format (9MB - CSV) (right-click on the link and choose "save as")

Notes, variable labels and value labels for BEEPS 2009 dataset (111KB - PDF) (useful for Excel 2007 and CSV formats)

Panel data 2002-2009 Stata 10 format (48MB - DTA) Stata 9 format (45MB - DTA) Excel 2007 format (16MB - XLSX) CSV format (20MB - CSV) (right-click on the link and choose "save as")

Notes, variable labels and value labels for BEEPS panel dataset 2002-2009 (121KB - PDF)  (useful for Excel 2007 and CSV formats)

BEEPS 2005 data

Questionnaire (254KB - PDF)  
Report on sampling and implementation (835KB - PDF)  

BEEPS dataset in Stata format (6MB - DTA) (right-click on the link and choose "save as")
BEEPS dataset in CSV format (9MB - CSV) (right-click on the link and choose "save as"), Help

BEEPS 2004 data

Questionnaire 1 (233KB - PDF)  

Report on sampling and implementation 1 (333KB - PDF)  
Questionnaire 2 (223KB - PDF)  

Report on sampling and implementation 2 (291KB - PDF)  
BEEPS dataset in Stata format (3MB - DTA) (right-click on the link and choose "save as")
BEEPS dataset in CSV format (4MB - CSV) (right-click on the link and choose "save as"), Help

BEEPS 2002 data

Questionnaire (186KB - PDF)  

Report on sampling and implementation (304KB - PDF)  
BEEPS dataset in Stata format (4MB - DTA) (right-click on the link and choose "save as")
BEEPS dataset in CSV format (7MB - CSV) (right-click on the link and choose "save as"), Help

BEEPS 1999 data

Questionnaire (268KB - PDF)  
Report on sampling and implementation (2MB - PDF)  
BEEPS dataset in Stata format (2MB - DTA) (right-click on the link and choose "save as")
BEEPS dataset in CSV format (4MB - CSV) (right-click on the link and choose "save as"), Help

BEEPS CSV help

In addition to the Stata format, the data from the BEEPS surveys are also available in ASCII comma delimited format. This is a common way to save large datasets and allows the data to be imported to all mainstream statistical packages as well as to Microsoft Excel easily. In order to import the data, please follow the instructions below, and consult your software’s manual/help files where necessary. 

Importing ASCII data files to Excel

1. Download the files by right clicking on them. Do not open them directly.

2. Launch MS Excel.

3. Go to Data/Import External Data/Import Data and select the file from which you would like to import the data and click open. The programme will launch “Text Import Wizard”

a) Step 1: The wizard should automatically recognise the file as delimited. If not, then choose this option manually.

b) Step 2: The data is in comma delimited form. Please tick this box.

c) Follow the remaining steps and specify the location where you would like to import the data.

4. The text import wizard will then import as much data as will fit a single Excel worksheet.

5. To continue importing the data, repeat the same operation on another Excel worksheet, this time excluding the data already imported.

Importing ASCII data files to other statistical packages

Please consult the manual of your package on how to import external data.

Conditions for use of the BEEPS datasets

All users of the data are asked to cite the data as the "EBRD-World Bank Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS)". For the same reason, we request that the dataset not be further distributed, to ensure that new users see and read this screen.

Feedback and requests

For technical queries about the data, use this form.

World Bank collaboration

This study was done in conjunction with the World Bank, which also makes the dataset available in the World Bank Enterprise Surveys portal.

Last updated 29 April 2010