CNP Auto-Parts Consulting Trial — Individual vs. Group Management Coaching in Colombia

One-on-one management consulting reliably improves small-firm performance in developing countries, but is expensive to deliver at scale; researchers wanted to know whether a cheaper, agricultural-extension-style group model could work just as well.

Test whether group-based management consulting, delivered to clusters of geographically close firms, could match the performance gains of individual one-on-one consulting at a fraction of the cost.

Following a 2012 Colombian government call for applications, the non-profit Centro Nacional de Productividad (CNP) and World Bank researchers randomly assigned 159 auto-parts firms — about half based in Cundinamarca around Bogotá and most others in Valle del Cauca around Cali — into three equal groups of 53: individual one-on-one consulting, group-based consulting delivered to clusters of 3-8 geographically close firms, or a no-consulting control.

Both treatment arms raised a standardised management-practices index by 8-10 percentage points relative to control, but individual consulting cost about $28,950 per firm versus roughly $10,500 for group consulting; the group treatment also produced statistically significant increases in employment (6-7 additional workers per firm), sales and energy use, while individual consulting's effects on firm-level outcomes were smaller and less robust. The group programme was estimated to pay for itself within about 14 months.

The sample was restricted to a single manufacturing sub-sector (auto parts) with firms already large enough to apply for a government programme (10-310 employees), so results may not generalise to micro-enterprises or other industries.