Data for reforms: leveraging the B-READY 2024 report for enhanced business environments

The newly launched Business Ready (B-READY) 2024 report offers a comprehensive analysis of the global business environment, highlighting both strengths and weaknesses across 50 economies. With nearly 1,200 indicators per economy, B-READY is a powerful tool that policymakers can use to pinpoint areas for improvement and guide reforms to create a stronger private sector.

In this blog, we offer guidance on how to effectively navigate and leverage B-READY data to enhance business environments.
 

B-READY’s Analytical Framework

B-READY’s analytical framework is based on three pillars: (1) Regulatory Framework, (2) Public Services, and (3) Operational Efficiency. These pillars encompass ten topics corresponding to various stages of a firm's lifecycle and its market participation, from opening to operating and closing a business. The topics covered include Business Entry, Business Location, Utility Services, Labor, Financial Services, International Trade, Taxation, Dispute Resolution, Market Competition, and Business Insolvency.

The topics are based on established good practices, encompassing quantifiable measures that highlight actionable areas subject to change through policy reform. Some examples of good practices covered under B-READY include: reduction of business entry restrictions, secure and reliable land registration systems, provision of safe utility connections, equality and non-discrimination of labor, consumer protection for electronic payments, establishment of trade facilitation measures, digitization of tax administration and efficient tax audits, reliability of courts and alternate dispute resolution mechanisms, prohibition of anti-competitive agreements, and mechanism for the selection and appointment of an insolvency administrator.

Additionally, three cross-cutting themes are considered: digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender. For more information, please refer to the B-READY Methodology Handbook.
 

Leveraging B-READY for Policy Reforms: A Powerful Tool for Policymakers

B-READY 2024 shows that most economies, particularly developing ones, are not business ready. The world represented by 50 economies covered in B-READY 2024 is only about two-thirds business ready in terms of the quality of business regulations, and only half business ready when it comes to the provision of public services for the private sector.

Our analysis reveals significant room for improvement across all pillars and topic areas, particularly in Business Insolvency, Market Competition, and Taxation.
 

Business Readiness by Pillar and Topic

^{Source: B-READY 2024 data.  Note: The sample comprises 50 economies and the analysis shows the average scores for the three pillars (left panel) and for the ten topics (right panel) for the 50 economies. Scores can range from 0 to 100.}

The B-READY 2024 assessment delivers an extensive overview of the business climate in the 50 evaluated economies. It encompasses approximately 1,200 indicators for each economy. This rich dataset enables policy makers to identify areas of strength and weakness within their unique contexts and steer policy reforms accordingly. Here’s how:
 

Overall Business Readiness of Economies

The B-READY website features an engaging tool for exploring data, enabling users to analyze and compare insights across all fifty economies included in B-READY 2024. Policy makers can dive into economy-specific assessments and observe the performance across the three pillars and ten topics (see example of Bangladesh). These overviews can offer broad understanding of how business ready economies are, highlighting the pillars and the topic areas where countries are performing well and where they need to strengthen. 
 

Benchmarking Against Peers

B-READY allows policymakers to benchmark economies against comparable peers or various income groups.  This comparative analysis helps them understand how their business environment stacks up against others and identify best practices from higher-performing economies. For example, some economies in the South Asia region can compare pillar scores with one another and with different income groups.

Benchmarking Economies

The website also provides the option to compare economies across topic areas, such as Financial Services. This comparison provides information on how countries are performing across different pillars within a topic and identifies pillars that present opportunities for improvement. Given B-READY’s expansive coverage of various topic areas, it can enable policymakers to address multiple aspects of the business environment. By tackling interconnected challenges around regulatory quality and provision of public services, they can create a comprehensive reform program that supports private sector growth.

Economy Deep Dives for Data-Driven Decision Making

Through Economy Profiles, available for all 50 economies, B-READY allows policymakers to dig deeper and identify specific areas where their economy excels and areas that require improvement, enabling them to make informed, evidence-based decisions. The economy profiles (see an example of Singapore) provide very granular and quantifiable measures that clearly outline best practices for enhancing the business climate.

The table below presents examples of selected indicators from the ten topics and the three pillars, along with the results from the analysis of the 50 economies. These indicators illustrate the granularity of the data available and highlight how actionable this information can be. This data-driven approach to policy reforms can guide specific policy changes that ensure reforms are targeted and effective.

^{Source: B-READY 2024 data}

Supporting Inclusive and Sustainable Growth

B-READY’s focus on cross-cutting themes like digital adoption, environmental sustainability, and gender ensures that reforms are inclusive and forward-looking. The cross-cutting indicators are integrated into the relevant pillars, making them essential components of each topic and providing detailed insights. Policymakers can use B-READY data to promote digital transformation, sustainable practices, and gender equality, which are crucial for long-term economic resilience and growth. By addressing these areas, they can create a more dynamic and inclusive business environment that benefits all segments of society. 

Conclusion: Harnessing B-READY 2024 Insights for Comprehensive Business Environment Reforms

Enhancing the business environment requires pinpointing and tackling several critical interconnected areas while embracing comprehensive reforms to foster a dynamic, inclusive, and sustainable business climate. Recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution, decision makers must tailor policies and reforms to their unique contexts. The B-READY report and its data serve as essential tools to identify these key areas and inform effective reforms.

Key insights from B-READY 2024 for enhancing business environments include:

1. Providing effective public services that support businesses in their regulatory compliance and operations.
2. Embracing a comprehensive reform agenda spanning all B-READY topics to make substantial improvements in the overall business landscape.
3. Learning from peers and adopting good practices from other economies to provide valuable insights and innovative solutions tailored to local contexts.
4. Promoting digital adoption to streamline processes, reduce costs, and unlock new business opportunities.
5. Prioritizing environmental sustainability to ensure long-term resource availability while meeting rising consumer demand for eco-friendly practices.
6. Advancing gender-sensitive policies to foster an inclusive workforce, maximize the potential of the population, and drive economic growth.

Every single data point is publicly available on the B-READY website, including expert level responses. All results presented in the report are replicable with tools available on the website. We invite you to use B-READY data and make a difference in private sector development.