멕시코 기업 환경과 중소기업의 성과: 치안 비용, 부정부패, 비공식적 경쟁과 중소기업 성과의 관계

This study aims to investigate how security, bribery, informal competition, and the fixed entry cost can affect the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Mexico. Recently, Mexico has been regarded as a new strategic foothold for the US and Latin American markets for Korean global companies and their Korean SME suppliers. The current study contributes to offering an opportunity to take a detailed look at the relationship between the SMEs’ performance and some chronic institutional environment, particularly business obstacles that they might run into in Mexico. For the current study, we have used the survey data conducted by the World Bank Enterprise Survey (WBES) in 2010. We have analyzed a sample of 821 SMEs in the manufacturing sector in Mexico with more than 5 and less than 250 employees. The results show that the security cost is positively related to labor productivity due to unstable business environment. However, there is no statistically significant relationship between corruption and labor productivity. The informal competition with those unregistered competitors affects SMEs’ sales negatively. Finally, the level of firm entry fixed-costs does not moderate the relationship between informal competition and SMEs’ sales. We finalize the paper by discussing implications for future studies and practices.