Armenian companies are reluctant to introduce innovative products in the production process and they allocate less money for surveys and development. This is proved by the results of the EBRD-WB Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey for 2008-2013, which is based on the interview of 360 Armenian companies.
According to the survey, in 2008 63% of the interviewed enterprises developed new products and introduced new services, but in 2013 only 13% took such measures. The situation is also poor for the enterprises' expenses on surveys and business development: in 2008 23% of the companies allocated funds for surveys and business development versus 3% in 2013.
The survey also reflects on the Caucasus, Europe and Central Asia. The relevant indices of innovations and new services for the Caucasus are 46% in 2008 and 7% in 2013 while the indices of expenses on surveys and business development are 15% in 2008 and 3% in 2013. In Europe and Central Asia 51% of the firms developed new products and launched new services and 22% spent on surveys and business development in 2008 versus 25% and 9%, respectively, in 2013.
An Enterprise Survey is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy's private sector. The surveys cover a broad range of business environment topics including access to finance, corruption, infrastructure, crime, competition, and performance measures. Since 2002, the World Bank has collected this data from face-to-face interviews with top managers and business owners in over 130,000 companies in 135 economies. Since 2005-06, most data collection efforts have been centralized within the Enterprise Analysis Unit; these surveys are conducted using the Global Methodology. To date, over 94,000 interviews in 126 countries have taken place under the Global Methodology.
