The World Bank Group and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development are implementing Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Surveys. Four rounds of the survey have been carried out so far (1999, 2002, 2005 and 2009). Furthermore, to set a benchmark for the transition countries, a survey of comparator countries was conducted in 2004-2005 covering Germany, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, South Korea, Spain and Vietnam. In Vietnam, 500 firms were surveyed.
The objective of BEEPS is to obtain feedback from enterprises in client countries on the state of the private sector. Through face-to-face interviews with firms in the manufacturing and services sectors, the survey assesses the constraints to private sector growth and creates statistically significant business environment indicators that are comparable across countries.
The survey topics include firm characteristics, information about sales and suppliers, infrastructure services, security, law enforcement, government policies, laws and regulations, financing, overall business environment, corruption, performance and investment activities, and workforce composition.