MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES IN LEBANON

The travel duration (in minutes) from home to work is not long, where only 7.8% of surveyed MSEshave a travel duration of more than 30 minutes between home and work, while traveling time is lessthan 5 minutes for 15.1% of surveyed MSEs, 5-9 minutes for 26.2% of them, 10-15 minutes for26.6% and 15-29 minutes for 24.2% of MSEs. The close distances between home and work is apredominance of the one-employee MSEs who live usually near their working stations (Figure 6).III.5.3 Access to infrastructureAccess to infrastructure is a determinant enabling or constraining factor for the work of MSEs. Ingeneral, most surveyed enterprises have access to water, electricity, sewerage systems, and roads. Alower percentage has access to telecommunication networks, and transportation facilities for goodsand workers.As shown in the Figure below, around 65% of surveyed enterprises have access to water, 42% ofwhom estimate its quality as “good” 13 , while 22% perceive it as “bad”. Around 85% of MSEs accesselectricity, but 36% of them regard it as a “fair” quality asset, and only 29% consider it “good”.Access to roads is highlighted by 70% of MSEs, and 50% perceive it as a “good” service.Furthermore, it is noted that less than 50% of surveyed MSEs have access to telecommunicationnetworks, and 65% of them consider the quality of the service as “good”. Only 40% of MSEs haveaccess to transportation means for goods while only 15% access transportation services for workers.Finally, only 2% of MSEs have daycare centers (Figure 7).Figure 7: Infrastructure Availability and Quality90.084.780.070.060.064.865.459.669.962.750.040.042.535.036.534.548.453.049.336.048.539.737.145.240.530.020.010.022.429.019.414.830.116.714.614.726.19.314.210.70.0Water Electricity Telephone Sewage Roads Transportation forworkers% good fair badTransportation forgoods1.8Daycare centersIII.5.4 Access to advisory/training servicesAccess to information and advisory services is important for optimizing efficiency and effectivenessof enterprises. The survey found that a minimal number of surveyed MSEs have access to suchservices, whether in terms of information or comparative experiences. It appears that, on average, only4.7% of surveyed enterprises acquire services pertaining to management, trainings, marketing,exports, production, etc…. The least used service is the one concerning exports where only 0.68percent of enterprises resort to it, while the most consumed service is domestic marketing (7%).13The indicators of measure considered for the evaluation of the services’ quality are: good, fair, and bad. The infrastructureparameters are: water, electricity, telephone, sewage, roads, transportation for workers, transportation for goods, and daycare centers.21