FIGURE 2.8 The Likelihood of Adopting Frontier Technologies for Sector-Specific Business Functions Varies across Firm Size a1. Irrigation
80 60 40 20 0
100
a2. Harvesting Estimated probability (%)
100
Estimated probability (%)
Estimated probability (%)
a. Agriculture
80 60 40 20 0
100
a3. Storage
80 60 40 20 0
Small Medium Large
Small Medium Large
Small Medium Large
Firm size
Firm size
Firm size
b1. Input testing
80 60 40 20 0
100
b2. Cooking
80 60 40 20 0
Small Medium Large Firm size
Estimated probability (%)
100
Estimated probability (%)
Estimated probability (%)
b. Food processing (manufacturing) 100
b3. Packaging
80 60 40 20 0
Small Medium Large Firm size
Small Medium Large Firm size
80 60 40 20 0
100
c2. Inventory
80 60 40 20 0
Estimated probability (%)
100
Estimated probability (%)
Estimated probability (%)
c. Retail (services) c1. Merchandising
100
c3. Advertising
80 60 40 20 0
Small Medium Large
Small Medium Large
Small Medium Large
Firm size
Firm size
Firm size
Source: Original figure based on Firm-level Adoption of Technology (FAT) survey data. Note: Estimated probability of technology adoption using sampling weights and controlling for country, firm size, and sector. Firm size refers to the number of workers: small (5–19), medium (20–99), and large (100 or more).
testing, cooking, packaging); and services/retail (merchandising, inventory, advertising). The gap between small and large firms in the likelihood of adopting frontier technologies in the functions related to food processing is larger than in agriculture and services.
Fact 6. The largest technology gaps occur within countries, not between countries. Underlying the significant differences in the average technology sophistication across countries, regions, sectors, and firm size lies a large variation of sophistication Facts about Technology Adoption and Use in Developing Countries 57