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Future of Business Survey 2020

Albania, Algeria, American Samoa, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, The,..., 2020
Central
Facebook, The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), World Bank
Created on December 08, 2021 Last modified December 08, 2021 Page views 842 Download 55 Documentation in PDF Metadata DDI/XML JSON

Identification

Survey ID Number
WLD_2020_FBS_v01_M
Title
Future of Business Survey 2020
Country/Economy
Name Country code
Albania ALB
Algeria DZA
American Samoa ASM
Andorra AND
Angola AGO
Anguilla AIA
Antigua and Barbuda ATG
Argentina ARG
Aruba ABW
Australia AUS
Austria AUT
Azerbaijan AZE
Bahamas, The BHS
Bangladesh BGD
Barbados BRB
Belarus BLR
Belgium BEL
Belize BLZ
Benin BEN
Bolivia BOL
Netherlands NLD
Bosnia and Herzegovina BIH
Botswana BWA
Brazil BRA
Brunei Darussalam BRN
Bulgaria BGR
Burkina Faso BFA
Burundi BDI
Cabo Verde CPV
Cambodia KHM
Cameroon CMR
Canada CAN
Cayman Islands CYM
Central African Republic CAF
Chad TCD
Chile CHL
Colombia COL
Congo, Rep. COG
Côte d'Ivoire CIV
Curaçao CUW
Cyprus CYP
Czech Republic CZE
Denmark DNK
Djibouti DJI
Dominica DMA
Dominican Republic DOM
Ecuador ECU
Egypt, Arab Rep. EGY
El Salvador SLV
Equatorial Guinea GNQ
Estonia EST
Eswatini SWZ
Ethiopia ETH
Faroe Islands FRO
Fiji FJI
Finland FIN
France FRA
French Polynesia PYF
Gabon GNB
Gambia, The GMB
Germany DEU
Ghana GHA
Gibraltar GIB
Greece GRC
Grenada GRD
Guadeloupe GLP
Guam GUM
Guatemala GTM
Guernsey GB-GSY
Guinea GIN
Guinea-Bissau GNB
Guyana GUY
Haiti HTI
Honduras HND
Hong Kong SAR, China HKG
Hungary HUN
Iceland ISL
India IND
Indonesia IDN
Iraq IRQ
Ireland IRL
Isle of Man IMN
Israel ISR
Italy ITA
Jamaica JAM
Japan JPN
Jersey JEY
Jordan JOR
Kenya KEN
Korea, Rep. KOR
Kuwait KWT
Lao PDR LAO
Lebanon LBN
Lesotho LSO
Liberia LBR
Libya LBY
Liechtenstein LIE
Lithuania LTU
Luxembourg LUX
Malawi MWI
Malaysia MYS
Mali MLI
Malta MLT
Martinique MTQ
Mauritania MRT
Mauritius MUS
Mayotte MYT
Mexico MEX
Monaco MCO
Montenegro MNE
Morocco MAR
Mozambique MOZ
Myanmar MMR
Namibia NAM
Nepal NPL
Netherlands NLD
New Caledonia NCL
New Zealand NZL
Nicaragua NIC
Niger NER
Nigeria NGA
North Macedonia MKD
N. Mariana Isld. MNP
Norway NOR
Oman OMN
Pakistan PAK
Panama PAN
Papua New Guinea PNG
Paraguay PRY
Peru PER
Philippines PHL
Poland POL
Portugal PRT
Qatar QTR
Réunion REU
Romania ROU
Russian Federation RUS
Rwanda RWA
St. Kitts and Nevis KNA
St. Lucia LCA
St. Vincent and the Grenadines VCT
Samoa WSM
San Marino SMR
São Tomé and Príncipe STP
Saudi Arabia SAU
Senegal SEN
Serbia SRB
Seychelles SYC
Sierra Leone SLE
Singapore SGP
Sint Eustatius and Saba NLD
Sint Maarten (Dutch part) SXM
Slovak Republic SVK
Slovenia SVN
Solomon Islands SLB
South Africa ZAF
Spain ESP
Sweden SWE
Switzerland CHE
Taiwan, China TWN
Tanzania TZA
Thailand THA
Timor-Leste TLS
Togo TGO
Tonga TON
Trinidad and Tobago TTO
Tunisia TUN
Turkey TUR
Turks and Caicos Islands TCA
Uganda UGA
United Arab Emirates ARE
United Kingdom GBR
United States USA
Uruguay URY
Vanuatu VUT
Vietnam VNM
Virgin Isld. (British) VGB
Virgin Islands, U.S. VIR
Zambia ZMB
Study type
Enterprise Survey [en/oth]
Series Information
The Future of Business survey is a collaboration between Facebook, the OECD and the World Bank to provide monthly data on the perceptions, challenges, and outlook of online Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). It was first launched in 17 countries in February 2016. Now the survey covers 101 countries and includes additional fields related to gender for example. The survey is administered each month by German research company FactWorks. In 2019, the Future of Business survey increased coverage to 97 countries and moved to a bi-annual cadence.
Microdata is also available to nonprofits and universities through 'Facebooks Data for Good <https://dataforgood.facebook.com/> program. To request access, please visit the Future of Business Survey <https://dataforgood.facebook.com/dfg/tools/future-of-business-survey> and fill out the data request form.
Abstract
The Future of Business Survey is a new source of information on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Launched in February 2016, the monthly survey - a partnership between Facebook, OECD, and The World Bank - provides a timely pulse on the economic environment in which businesses operate and who those businesses are to help inform decision-making at all levels and to deliver insights that can help businesses grow. The Future of Business Survey provides a perspective from newer and long-standing digitalized businesses and provides a unique window into a new mobilized economy.

Policymakers, researchers and businesses share a common interest in the environment in which SMEs operate, as well their outlook on the future, not least because young and innovative SMEs in particular are often an important source of considerable economic and employment growth. Better insights and timely information about SMEs improve our understanding of economic trends, and can provide new insights that can further stimulate and help these businesses grow.

To help provide these insights, Facebook, OECD and The World Bank have collaborated to develop a monthly survey that attempts to improve our understanding of SMEs in a timely and forward-looking manner. The three organizations share a desire to create new ways to hear from businesses and help them succeed in the emerging digitally-connected economy. The shared goal is to help policymakers, researchers, and businesses better understand business sentiment, and to leverage a digital platform to provide a unique source of information to complement existing indicators.

With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.
Kind of Data
Sample survey data [ssd]
Unit of Analysis
The study describes small and medium-sized enterprises.

Scope

Notes
The survey includes questions about:

- Perceptions of current and future economic activity
- Challenges
- Business characteristics
- Strategy

Coverage

Geographic Coverage
When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. When the survey was initially launched in February 2016, it included 22 countries. The Future of Business Survey is now conducted in over 90 countries in every region of the world.

Countries included in at least one wave:
Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas (the) Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia (Plurinational State of) Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cayman Islands (the) Central African Republic (the) Chad Chile Colombia Congo (the) Curaçao Cyprus Czechia Côte d'Ivoire Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic (the) Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Faroe Islands (the) Fiji Finland France French Polynesia Gabon Gambia (the) Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guernsey Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iraq Ireland Isle of Man Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jersey Jordan Kenya Korea (the Republic of) Kuwait Lao People's Democratic Republic (the) Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Malawi Malaysia Mali Malta Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Monaco Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nepal Netherlands (the) New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger (the) Nigeria North Macedonia Northern Mariana Islands (the) Norway Oman Pakistan Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines (the) Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Russian Federation (the) Rwanda Réunion Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Sint Maarten (Dutch part) Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa Spain Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tanzania, the United Republic of Thailand Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turks and Caicos Islands (the) Uganda United Arab Emirates (the) United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (the) United States of America (the) Uruguay Vanuatu Viet Nam Virgin Islands (British) Virgin Islands (U.S.) Zambia.
Universe
The target population consists of SMEs that have an active Facebook business Page and include both newer and longer-standing businesses, spanning across a variety of sectors. With more businesses leveraging online tools each day, the survey provides a lens into a new mobilized, digital economy and, in particular, insights on the actors: a relatively unmeasured community worthy of deeper consideration and considerable policy interest.

Producers and sponsors

Primary investigators
Name
Facebook
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)
World Bank
Funding Agency/Sponsor
Name
World Bank
OECD
Facebook

Sampling

Sampling Procedure
Twice a year in over 97 countries, the Facebook Survey Team sends the Future of Business to admins and owners of Facebook-designated small business pages. When we share data from this survey, we anonymize responses to all survey questions and only share country-level data publicly. To achieve better representation of the broader small business population, we also weight our results based on known characteristics of the Facebook Page admin population.

A random sample of firms, representing the target population in each country, is selected to respond to the Future of Business Survey each month.
Response Rate
Response rates to online surveys vary widely depending on a number of factors including survey length, region, strength of the relationship with invitees, incentive mechanisms, invite copy, interest of respondents in the topic and survey design.

Note: Response rates are calculated as the number of respondents who completed the survey divided by the total number of SMEs invited.

Data Collection

Dates of Data Collection
Start End
2020-05 2020-12
Data Collection Mode
Internet [int]
Data Collection Notes
The questionnaire was pretested by the target audience, as well as experts from the area of research interest. Additionally, steps were taken to translate the survey in order to reduce sensitivities to cultural response bias:

- Respondents were given the option to respond to the survey in any of fifteen languages native to the countries in which it was conducted.
- Translations were done only by native speakers, with two rounds of additional online checks in the context of the survey environment.
- Translators were provided with context material for this survey (e.g., the Facebook for Business website) in order to understand the context of the survey. They were also instructed to take the English survey at least two times before starting with the translations.
- Translations were discussed in a group in order to ensure a common understanding of questions and items.
- The tone (formal vs. informal) of the survey was based on cultural conventions, e.g., Facebook usually uses an informal tone, while in cultures such as the Japanese this is very uncommon and thus a formal tone was used there.

Questionnaires

Questionnaires
The survey includes questions about perceptions of current and future economic activity, challenges, business characteristics and strategy. Custom modules include questions related to regulation, access to finance, digital payments, and digital skills. The full questionnaire is available for download.

Data Appraisal

Estimates of Sampling Error
Any survey data is prone to several forms of error and biases that need to be considered to understand how closely the results reflect the intended population. In particular, the following components of the total survey error are noteworthy:

Sampling error is a natural characteristic of every survey based on samples and reflects the uncertainty in any survey result that is attributable to the fact that not the whole population is surveyed.

Other factors beyond sampling error that contribute to such potential differences are frame or coverage error (sampling frame of page owners does not include all relevant businesses but also may include individuals that don't represent businesses), and nonresponse error.

Note that the sample is meant to reflect the population of businesses on Facebook, not the population of small businesses in general. This group of digitized SMEs is itself a community worthy of deeper consideration and of considerable policy interest. However, care should be taken when extrapolating to the population of SMEs in general. Moreover, future work should evaluate the external validity of the sample. Particularly, respondents should be compared to the broader population of SMEs on Facebook, and the economy as a whole.

Access policy

Citation requirements
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download

Example: Facebook, OECD and World Bank. Future of Business Survey 2020. Ref: WLD_2020_FBS_v01_M. Downloaded from [url] on [date].

Metadata production

DDI Document ID
DDI_WLD_2020_FBS_v01_M_WB
Producers
Name Abbreviation Affiliation Role
Development Economics Data Group DECDG The World Bank Documentation of the DDI
Date of Metadata Production
2021-12-06
DDI Document version
Version 01 (Dec 2021).

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