Rapid Business Socio-Economic Impact Assessment Survey

A survey was carried out with N=202 micro, small and medium sized businesses. The data collection was conducted by applying CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing).

A multistage sampling procedure was used in order to identify suitable businesses. The businesses were identified from the Kosovo Business Registration Agency (KBRA), which consists of the following information:

1) NIPT (equivalent to tax identification number)

2) Name of Business

3) Date of Registration

4) Type of Business (Ltd, JSC, Physical Person, etc.)

5) Location Address

6) Founding Capital

7) Legal Representative

8) Status (Active, Passive, under bankruptcy)

Based on this database, businesses were randomly selected by location and then went through a Screening procedure which is as follows:

1.       Contact the business (using different sources of contacts from databases, extracts from NRC (National Research Council), Chambers of Commerce, yellow pages, etc.)

2.      Screen the business (through e mini survey over the phone) in terms of:

a. Size

b. Region

3.      If the business suited the quota, (interlocking quota – region, size, ownership) then an appointment was set for the main questionnaire.

The survey was conducted from 1 May to 9 May 2020.

It should be noted that Kosovo’s business sector is made up almost entirely of MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises). There are around 38,000 registered enterprises operating in Kosovo;

·         93.1% of which are micro enterprises,

·         5.9% are small and

·         0.9% are medium sized.

·         Only 0.1% of the total business population are classified as large enterprises.

Kosovo’s classification of MSMEs is defined by the law on foreign investment which entered into force in 2014. Regarding the geographic distribution of enterprises, around one-third of all registered enterprises are located in the district of Prishtinë/Priština. Below is the distribution of businesses in Kosovo, according to the Kosovo Agency of Statistics (2018).

Table 1. Distribution of Businesses in Kosovo

  Source: Statistical Agency of Kosovo, 2018

As illustrated by the tables above and the one below, if the sample distribution were based on the official data, then it would not be possible to analyse the data by business segment (micro, small and medium) due to a very low number of interviews for small and medium companies proportionally. Hence, in order to accurately reflect the business landscape in Kosovo, the following quotas and weights were applied for the business survey sample. In addition to the business size, quotas were implemented for regional distribution as well as for the main business activity or industry. The quota approach allows to analyse and provide findings for all three business segments separately. Hence, in this report, the overall results are weighted. The weighting procedure ensures that the results represent the business landscape in Kosovo, meaning that the business segment contributes with the same share or weight that it overall has in Kosovo.

Hence, the following quotas and weights were applied for the business survey sample.

Table 2. Sample and Weighting for Business Survey Sample

[1] Overall results in the graph are shown as weighted.