Evaluation Methodology: Measurement of Drivers of Business Success and Failure

1. This report seeks to identify the key drivers of business success and failure through a review of existing literature. The review is intended to inform future work undertaken by the Department for Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) to evaluate the impact of government interventions on the business community. Such evaluations rely on the analysts' ability to take adequate account of any differences between participants and non-participants which may explain any observed variation in their performance (other than the fact of being treated). Accordingly, the review aims to identify those performance-related business characteristics which provide the strongest basis on which to compare participants and non-participants within the context of an impact evaluation. It also comments on their ease of observation or measurement. The overall aim is to assist in the identification of a set of business characteristics that would ideally be employed as matching variables or control variables within future evaluations commissioned by BIS.