Conducting a Sector Study on Software Development Sector in Bangladesh

One of the major objectives of the SME Foundation was to identify and report policy anomalies, market and institutional failures that were prejudicial to the legitimate interests of SME, based on in depth research, and stakeholder consultations.

In light of this objective SME Foundation was going to conduct this research to find out current status of the sector, including but not limited to number of firms, total employment, and contribution to the GDP, barriers towards development and recommendations to overcome those along with market opportunities and global business trend of this sector with future forecasting.

The goal of the Software Development Sectors Study was to acquire following information on the sector:

1. Total number of firms.

2. Total number of employment.

3. Yearly turnover.

4. Market size in home and abroad.

5. Market trend of this sector during last 5 years in home and abroad.

6. List of products or services this sector is producing or offering.

7. Market opportunities in home and abroad.

8. Global business trend of this sector with future forecasting.

9. Tariff and non-tariff barriers.

10. Marketing barriers.

11. Information barriers.

12. Financial barriers.

13. Contribution to GDP.

14. Top ten issues hindering the growth of this sector.

15. Recommendations to overcome the above mentioned hindrances along with the identified specific implementing authorities.

The Consultants were responsible for conducting a primary survey on this sector by taking sample from all districts of the country. They were also liable for desk research and identifying any inconsistent regulations or tariff structure that were impeding the growth and export these products.