Private companies and municipalities: dynamics and performance

This study by Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos addresses a complex and extremely important question: how are the actions of municipal institutions associated with the birth, performance and death of private companies? The answer we offer uses a wide range of data, in many cases made available and examined in detail for the first time.

This study aims to contribute to what we know about the relationship between municipalities and business activity with an approach that is both indicative and promotes public debate, presenting four different types of contributions:

• the description, in space and over time, of a very varied municipal landscape in terms of business dynamics and performance;
• the dissemination and presentation of a set of documented associations between context indicators and municipal institutions, on the one hand, and the experience of private companies, on the other;
• concrete tests on the causal relationship between institutions, dynamics and business performance;
• several institutional efficiency rankings for Portuguese municipalities, appropriately corrected for different context factors.

The balance between progress and equity has perhaps never been more urgent for us Portuguese. But the economic crisis has rekindled in our country the urgency of offering decent opportunities for progress to all its citizens. Through this study, Fundação Francisco Manuel dos Santos seeks to contribute to understanding how the social, economic and institutional variety of Portuguese municipalities can establish a virtuous relationship with the life of companies and, by extension, promote the future prosperity of the Portuguese.