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In the clusters in Vietnam and Tanzania, we also offered on-site training several months after the classroom training was completed.<sup>9</sup> The assignment to on-site treatment was random and independent of the random assignment to the classroom training. Thus, some entrepreneurs received both types of training. The follow-up survey was conducted a year later in Cluster 2, but in the other clusters, it was conducted only three months after the on-site training was completed.

From these experiments, we have learned that entrepreneurs of MSEs have little awareness of basic management practices, that they soon understand the usefulness of such practices and become willing to learn how to apply them, and that roughly half of the participants put the new knowledge into practice. Indeed, in all these clusters, the estimated impacts of the training effects on the adoption of various management practices that were taught in the program are positive and statistically significant. Another impact of the training program is found on the longevity of the firm. In Cluster 2, while not a few firms in the control group stopped operation or completely closed down, there was no incidence of exit among the participants. The difference was statistically significant.<sup>10</sup> As shown in Table 2, the estimated effects of training on the participants’ value added are insignificant or marginally insignificant, except for the on-site training in Tanzania. Note, however, that the follow-up data in Vietnam and Tanzania were taken only six months after the classroom training and three months after the on-site training was completed.<sup>11</sup> It is no wonder that the estimated effect is statistically weak. Moreover, these estimates neglect to take into account the favorable effect of the training on non-participants through knowledge spillovers. Thus, the estimated effect on value added is likely to be only a small part of the social benefit of the training program.

In our observation, participants expressed deep appreciation to the management training programs almost without exception. Suzuki and Sonobe (2012) find that the demand for the management training programs was low prior to the training, but increased greatly with own experience, which can be seen in changes in the willingness to pay the training fees before and after the training. Interestingly, upon hearing the value of the training program from participants, non-participants also expressed greater willingness to pay the training fees. These findings suggest that it is lack of knowledge about the benefits of training that hinders the development of management consulting businesses in developing countries.

The cost of the training program per participants shown in Table 2 includes the costs of local and international consultants’ preparation of teaching materials, their travel and accommodation costs, and the cost of renting the venue.<sup>12</sup> Note that the cost per

> coordination and other aspects of the design of garment items.

> 9 In the on-site training program, instructors visited participants’ firms to teach them how to apply a simple technique of Kaizen to their workshop or factory, and the instructors visited the firm again to check if the application was going well and to give further advice.

> 10 In the other clusters, there has been no exit among the participants, even though there have been very few exits even among the non-participants.

> 11 The training effects on value added in the Tanzanian case shown in Table 2 were estimated by comparing the quarterly value added from January to March in 2010 and those in 2011.

> 12 The cost was low in Cluster 2, where international consultants were not hired, and the venue was provided by a nearby vocational school free of charge.  The cost was high in Tanzania, where a large room in a hotel in the center of the capital city was used as the venue, and the local lead consultant’s remuneration was high.