Asia Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Monitor 2021: Volume IV - Pilot SME Development Index: Applying Probabilistic Principal Component Analysis

This volume sets out an updated Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Index (SME-DI) that aims to help policy makers in developing Asia overcome the limited availability of data on small businesses.

The volume presents a new pilot of the SME-DI that fills in missing data by using a probabilistic principal component analysis model. The researchers used pilot testing to generate a regional SME-DI for 15 countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia, based on the 2021 Asia Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Monitor database. The study also constructed a national index for Viet Nam using business registration data.