Stjepan Srhoj, PhD, Senior Research Associate at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), is part of the World Bank’s “Investing in Firm Networks for Growth, Resilience, and Jobs” initiative, which develops internationally comparable evidence on firm networks based on microdata on transactions between firms.
Firms do not operate in isolation: they are linked through buyer-supplier relationships in production and transaction chains. The research examines how these interconnectedness affects growth, job creation, and resilience, alongside common factors at the firm and market levels. It uses detailed transaction data from more than 10 countries on four continents to illustrate the structure of these relationships, including the role of supporting sectors (e.g., information and communication technologies and transport), the integration of small and medium-sized enterprises, and concentration in supply chains. Such insights facilitate the assessment of how supply disruptions and other shocks are transmitted through the economy and which policies and investments are most effective in strengthening resilience and preserving jobs. The results are also used to shape public policies – from public spending and return on investment in infrastructure and logistics to the targeting of supplier development programs.
Teams from more than 10 countries are participating in the initiative; the leader is Dr. Chiara Criscuolo, and the coordinators are Dr. Verena Christina Wiedemann and Dr. Davide Samuele Luzzati.
Participation in the World Bank initiative is complementary to the core project of the Croatian Science Foundation (IP2022-10-8560) led by Dr. Stjepan Srhoj.
